Operation Golden Lotus
by RicardianScholar Clark-Weasley
Summary: Post 2x07 AU! After their epic fail in trying to matchmake Adrien and Marinette, Alya, Alix, Mylene, Juleka and Rose have all vowed they would do whatever it takes to get their favourite couple together. Whether it is facing Chloe's wrath or getting detention or risking arrest or causing Akumas or even joining a cheese cult! They will do whatever it takes
1. Prologue: Operation Golden Lotus Is Go

"So," Alya said in her bossiest voice, "you see what I mean, don't you?"

It was late evening after a long, warm, exhausting day and Alix was resting against the rails of a bridge chilling with Rose, Juleka, Mylene, and Alya after Marinette had long skedaddled off to home. They had just spent the _most ridiculous day ever_ trying to set Marinette up with Adrien, there had been code names, and fake stop signs, and running, and screw ups, and an Akuma that Alix was eighty five per cent sure they might have somehow caused by accident.

(That or Hawk Moth was _really_ scrapping the barrel nowadays.)

And in the end, despite all their hard work, Marinette chose to spend time mucking around with them instead of spending that much desired time with Adrien.

Alix was simultaneously touched and pissed off at the same time.

On one hand, it was so sweet of Marinette to put her friends first and Alix loved her dearly for it but on the other hand, _Marinette had just wasted their entire day for no reason!_

"Oh yeah," Alix agreed, "Marinette is hopeless all right."

"Oh _don't_!" Rose protested. "Marinette isn't hopeless. She's just in love!"

"Yeah," Juleka's lips twitched in amusement, " _hopelessly_ in love."

" _Juleka_!"

"Well I think it's very sweet and wonderful that Marinette chose to spend her time with us instead of Adrien," Mylene said timidly, "it's one of the reasons why she's such a great friend."

"She's the best friend," Alya agreed, "but she so could be Adrien's girlfriend by now if she would just a. talk to him like a normal person, and b. stop _sabotaging_ herself."

"The over the top, ridiculous, complicated plan just to get alone time with him doesn't help either," Alix added with a grin, "it leaves way too much to go wrong."

"You thought _that_ was a complicated plan?!" Alya grimaced. "The original plan had just the _two_ of us doing everything. Thank God I managed to convince her to confess to you guys!"

" _Pfft!_ " Alix snorted. "Please. The only person in school that _doesn't_ know that Marinette has a crush of the size of a galaxy on Adrien Agreste, is Adrien Agreste himself. You have that obstacle to tack onto the list as well."

"I _know_!" Alya groaned, "My job would be so much easier if Adrien wasn't so blind to how awesome my Girl is."

"It's such a shame," Rose sighed sadly, "because Adrien and Marinette would be just _perfect_ together! They're both so warm, and kind, and sweet, that they support one another into being the ultimate goodness."

" _Blergh_!" Alix gagged. "That's so pathetically corny!"

"True though," Juleka muttered as she glowered at Alix in Rose's defence, "Adrien and Marinette would be good together."

"Oh no doubt," Alix rolled her eyes, "they would be one of those couples. The kind everyone else around them would get diabetes from because they're so sickeningly _sweet._ "

"But you're still going to _help_ though, right?" Alya asked. "In trying to get them together for once and for all, I mean."

" _Duh_!" Alix cried out. "The sooner they're together, the sooner Marinette will stop asking us to run round like headless chickens."

"And I want to see Marinette happy," Mylene smiled, "she's been such a wonderful friend to all of us that the very least we can do is make sure she gets her happy ending."

"And true love must triumph over all!" Rose said passionately as her blue eyes blazed with, what Alix decided was, a crazed gleam. "And there is nothing truer or more pure than the love Marinette has for her Adrien. We must ensure that their love gets the chance to blossom into the epic love story I know that they're destined to have! Whatever it takes, our time, our lives, our freedom, or even our _first born child_ , we must sacrifice for the sake of Marinette and Adrien's romance!

"Yeah," Juleka mumbled, "whatever it takes."

"Erm..." Alix exchanged a worried glance with Mylene while Alya nodded in fierce agreement with Rose and Juleka. Alix was beginning to think she was the only sensible person in this group with a backbone. Which is worrying as hell because Alix was _crap_ at being responsible and boring. "Yeah," she muttered, "if you say so."

She might have to warn her father that he'll have to bail her out of prison some point in the near future.

She can't help but think that was a huge possibility considering today they had broken like _six traffic laws and then some_ alone!

"So we're all in agreement then," Alya said loudly, "Operation Golden Lotus is a go!"

" _Operation Golden Lotus?_!" Alix wrinkled her nose up in disgust. "God, _why_?!"

"Because Adrien is our Golden Button and Marinette is our Lotus flower," Alya said impatiently, "Remember? Those were the code names we had given them."

 _Urgh!_

The blasted code names! Alix wishes she could forget them, they were the most ridiculous and stupid part of the entire day she just endured.

" _Ooh_!" Rose exclaimed. "Golden Lotus is totally the perfect shipper name for Adrien and Marinette!"

"I know, right?" Alya said smugly. "Now to plot our next course of action, I thought that-"

"Oh no!" Mylene gasped as she glanced down at her phone. "Is that the _time_?! I have to be home for dinner."

This caused everyone else to check their phones and Alix grimaced as she realised it was almost six in the evening.

Mum was going to be pissed if Alix missed dinner!

"Oh dear," Rose moaned, "I have to go too!"

"I'll walk you," Juleka muttered.

"It's probably best if we all go," Alya agreed, "I know my parents will want me home soon too. Come round to mine tomorrow, and we'll plan out Operation Golden Lotus then."

And with that, everyone quickly muttered their goodbyes before they parted ways. Rose and Juleka walked in one direction together as Rose gushed about how cute Marinette and Adrien would be together while Juleka nodded dutifully, Mylene hurried off in another on her own, and Alix drifted in another direction entirely with Alya by her side.

"You know," Alix said pointedly as she stretched out her arms, "the only reason our plan crashed and burned so badly was because of those stupid code names. Rose kept getting confused when you kept calling Juleka by her name. Wouldn't it have been simpler if you called Rose, Rose, and Juleka something else, or you know, just _**not**_ use Rose as a code name like _at all?_!"

"I know, I know," Alya groaned, "but it was all part of my other operation!"

"What _other_ operation?" Alix asked suspiciously.

"Operation JulRose!" Alya said gleefully. "I was hoping that all the subliminal messages about how Juleka should be Rose's would seep into them during this adrenalin high day and they would fall into each other's arms!"

Alix stared at Alya blankly.

"...You," she said disgustedly, "have _way too much time_ on your hands!"


	2. Chapter 1: Operation Talking Lotus

**Operation Talking Lotus**

"So!" Alya barked. "Our first order of business is Operation _Talking Lotus_!"

"Wait, wait, wait, hang on a minute," Alix frowned, "I thought the operation was called Operation _Golden_ Lotus not _Talking_ Lotus, when did the name change? Did you decided this on a instant chat _without me_?!"

"Of course not," Alya rolled her eyes, "Operation Talking Lotus is the sub-operation of Operation |Golden Lotus."

"Urgh!" Alix groaned. "I'll say it again – you have _way too much time_ on your hands!"

Alya merely gave Alix a withering glower. "It's the first step in securing Marinette's happiness," she said firmly, "one of Marinette's biggest problems is that she can't _ **talk**_ to Adrien which is hardly conductive for a good relationship."

"Definitely," Mylene agreed quietly as her cheeks flushed bright pink, "sometimes Ivan and I just sit up all night talking to one another. It really strengthens our relationship."

Alix blinked at the small, shy, blonde girl bewilderedly. Both Mylene and Ivan were two of the quietest people in their class. Ivan, because he just seemed to prefer silence (or music) over interacting with other people, and Mylene because she was so shy and nervous. It was really hard to imagine these two actually talking for more than a few seconds, let alone a _whole night_!

"Communication is key for any successful relationship," Rose added, "we can't have Golden Lotus fail because Marinette can't bring herself to tell Adrien when there's something wrong."

"Nothing will happen if Marinette can't get comfortable to talk to Adrien either," Juleka muttered, "their first kiss would be a violent massacre if Marinette's head exploded the moment Adrien looks her way."

" _Juleka_!" Rose exclaimed. "That's awful!"

"But true," Alix pointed out dryly, "all right then, so first step is Operation Talking Lotus," she rolled her eyes at the naff codename, "and what does that exactly consist of?"

"Simple really," Alya shrugged, "we all make an effort to contrive situations in which Marinette and Adrien have to talk to one another. Start conversations about things they would be interested in, deliberately pull Marinette in with questions, give Adrien encouragement to speak directly to Marinette, slowly take ourselves out of the equation so we can leave those two to talk to one another alone, and then before you know it – they're talking, and interacting, and _flirting_ , and that's when we'll move onto step two!"

" _That's the plan?_!" Alix said disgustedly. "Slowly make them talk? Get Marinette to talk to Adrien without the stammering, and stuttering, and nonsensical babbling speak?! But that's going to take _months_! Maybe even _years_!"

"It's a delicate situation," Alya sniffed, "do you have any better ideas?"

"Yeah," Alix crossed her arms defiantly, "chuck them both in a cupboard together and don't let them out until they're making out."

"Oh _no!_ " Mylene said horrified. "that would kill Marinette!"

"And we want them to be in a real, true, loving relationship," Rose added scandalised, "they can't do that without really getting to _know_ one another on a deeper, personal, level."

"Yeah," Juleka mumbled.

"If you're going to wait until Marinette forms a coherent sentence round Adrien and be brave enough to ask him out herself," Alix said calmly, "or for her to be able to say something so brilliantly witty that Adrien will fall heads over heels for her and asks her out on the spot, then the day those two idiots will get together will be the day pigs learn to fly."

"Blunt force isn't the way to go," Alya snapped decisively.

"Really?" Alix raised an eyebrow. "Didn't you and Nino get together because Ladybug locked you both in a cage together?"

"That's totally different!" Alya protested. "Nino and I are much more confident and outgoing than Marinette and Adrien are. Lock those two in a cupboard and I'll guarantee it'll take hours just for Marinette to work up the courage to say _hi_. No, the best way is create scenarios where they'll have to talk to each other so their relationship can grow and develop at a natural speed."

"Urgh," Alya groaned, "that's way too much effort than it's worth."

"We _vowed_!" Rose hissed. "We vowed we'll do whatever it takes and if it takes months of small talk for Marinette to blossom into the confident, sweet, engaging person we all know her to be in front of Adrien, then _that's what we'll do_!"

"All right, all right!" Alix held up her hands in a surrendering gesture. "We'll go the slow, boring, route but I reserve the right to do things my way _without_ all the talking."

" _Fine_!" Alya huffed. "As long as it means Marinette has to talk to Adrien, I don't care how you do it!"

Alix grinned. " _Excellent_!" She murmured in her best Mr Burns impression.

She had such _wicked_ ideas!

"I don't understand," Mylene said anxiously, "exactly how are you going to get Adrien and Marinette to talk if you're not starting a conversation?"

"Don't worry," Alix smirked, "I have my ways."

MLBMLBMLBMLBMLBMLB

Alya instantly regretted allowing Alix to go her own way on Operation Talking Lotus the very next morning.

She, herself, was valiantly struggling to get through the morning pleasantries between Adrien and Marinette. She started it by warmly greeting Adrien herself when she entered the classroom, and then nudged Marinette to do the same.

Of course, Marinette screwed that up straight away but stuttering out a _good night_ but Alya managed to salvage the conversation by asking if Adrien slept all right, and then pulled Marinette in by asking her about her dream.

Poor Marinette's face was bright pink as she stammered and stuttered her way through a sentence about Chat Noir turning up to help her with her physics homework.

But it was _working!_

Adrien had leaned in to listen as his eyes sparkled with interest while they were focused on Marinette's pretty face. If all their conversations went like this then maybe Adrien will fall for Marinette in a matter of _weeks_ , and ask her out _regardless_ of the stutter!

And then Alix walked past.

" _Oops_!" she said loudly.

As her hand pressed against Marinette's back and suddenly pushed the poor girl right into Adrien. Marinette, who was never the most graceful person around, flailed about comically before she lost her footing completely and crashed landed right into Adrien's lap.

Adrien reacted instantly as his arms wrapped round Marinette and cradled her close before she fell off his lap completely and bashed her head against his desk. "Are you all right?!" Adrien cried out worriedly.

"I...you...ah...we... _guh_!"

Alya face palmed.

And then immediately turned round to glare at Alix who merely replied with a wicked grin and a thumbs up.

" _Just what the hell were you thinking_?!" Alya hissed to Alix after class. "I just got Marinette to talk an actual sentence to Adrien without too much of a stammer when you just sent her back _months_ with that shove!"

"Oh chill," Alix rolled her eyes, "my way is no more damaging than yours. I mean look at them," she nodded to Rose, Juleka, Marinette, and Adrien who were all huddled up awkwardly as they made painful small talk, "you know Adrien doesn't actually _talk_ to most of us that often, right? It's going to be painfully awkward for a long time going your way, at least my way Marinette ends up in Adrien's arms."

"Hmm..." Alya pressed her lips together disapprovingly, "You have a point."

Alix grinned. "And don't you just hate that?" she teased. "We'll do both ways, and when Adrien and Marinette are hooking up within the month and Marinette says it's because of _me_ , you can totally buy me an ice cream."

"Oh you're on!" Alya grinned back. "It'll be a nice change to be treated to an ice cream for once."

"Keep dreaming," Alix snorted.

And then they were both cruelly reminded of a crucial, significant, evil thing they had both forgotten when they made their plans.

For a moment, Adrien smiled and started to loosen up round all three girls. And whatever he said had made Marinette giggle which only served to make Adrien smile even more radiantly as he focused more on her than Rose and Juleka.

And then it happened.

And it was pure, unadulterated, _**evil**_.

A blonde hurricane appeared out of nowhere as Chloe Bourgeois suddenly shoved Marinette out of the way, which caused the poor black-blue haired girl to crash into Rose and Juleka, and flung herself at Adrien.

" **ADRI-KINS**!" she squealed. "What are you doing with these losers when you could be with me instead?"

And before Adrien could even register what Chloe had said, the conniving blonde dragged him down the corridor towards their next class.

"That cow," Alix growled, "that utter, evil, cow..."

" _Oh_!" Alya fumed. "If I could just get my hands on her!"

And, of course this becomes a regular occurrence.

Alya, Mylene, Juleka, and Rose will managed to strike up a conversation and just as Marinette is beginning to get comfortable enough for her words to come out in the right order, Chloe would push her away or shove herself between them and Adrien as she all but rubbed herself on him and dragged him away to their next class, or to have lunch with her, or some time alone after school.

Poor Adrien always looked pained and apologetic as he tried to subtly (and failed epically as Chloe clung onto him tighter) to pull away.

It was the same whenever Alix shoved Marinette into Adrien's arms. The two would all be wrapped up in one another, stammering and blushing, and gazing at one another in such a sickening way (Alya had to physically restrain Alix from shouting "SNOG ALREADY" at least five times now) when suddenly the mood shatters as Chloe squeezes herself between the pair. Chloe would viciously elbow Marinette out of the way, sometimes even knocking her into a wall or onto the floor, before she plastered herself against Adrien possessively while the poor boy started to look a bit like a wild, cornered, animal on the verge of chewing his own leg off to escape.

Or maybe that was just Alya's imagination?

It's certainly how _she_ would feel if she had Chloe's overpowering perfume clogged up in her nostrils and the blonde's octopus like hands all over her.

 _Urgh_!

In the end weeks and weeks and weeks drag on by with very little progress actually being made thanks to one, Chloe Bourgeois.

" _Argh_!" Alix threw her arms up in frustration.

It wasn't long after school and Chloe had _once again_ thwarted one of their attempts to contrive a conversation between Adrien and Marinette by loudly 'reminding' Adrien that he promised to spend the afternoon with her before she dragged him away. Marinette tried her best to not look so bothered she muttered something about having to help her parents anyway but you had to be blind (or Adrien) to not see how her shoulders were slumped or that she wrapped her arms round herself as if to protect herself from further hurt.

"That girl is the _biggest pain in the arse_ I have ever seen!" Alix snarled furiously. "How has Marinette not snapped and _strangled_ her yet?!"

"Trust me," Alya said grimly, "it's been a close call."

Along with her own frustrations, Alya had to listen to Marinette rant and rave furiously about Chloe on a near daily basis now. It did nothing to help Alya keep her own patience. With her plans constantly going awry thanks to Chloe, her little sisters being major pests, and Marinette mysteriously not being free after school these last couple weeks, Alya had found she had become an extremely irritable person.

"Should just murder her," Juleka muttered darkly, "nobody would miss her."

" _Juleka_!" Rose gasped. "That's not very nice! Though..." she smiled sheepishly, "you do make a very good point."

"Erm...ah...maybe, we should try outside of school?" Mylene suggested meekly. "I mean," she flushed bright pink as everyone turned to stare at her, "if we arranged a group outing _without_ Chloe then that would finally give Marinette and Adrien a chance to talk without interruptions?"

"That's a great idea, Mylene!" Rose beamed.

"Yeah," Juleka nodded.

"Sure," Alix agreed, "but how do we keep Chloe's big fat nose out of it? As soon as she gets a mere _whiff_ of a group outing, she'll barge in like the uninvited loser she is and Marinette will be sidelined again."

"Well, you see," Mylene mumbled as her cheeks turned a deeper pink, "If we kept the group _really small_ , say just me, Ivan, Alya, Nino, Adrien, and Marinette. Then Chloe isn't likely to notice and then Ivan and I, and Alya and Nino could, erm, slip away, to, ah, _snuggle_ and leave Marinette and Adrien no choice but to really talk to one another."

" _Snuggle_?" Alix grinned wickedly. "Is that what you kids call it nowadays?"

Mylene merely covered her face with her hands.

"Mylene!" Alya cried out gleefully. "That's _sheer genius_!"

" _It is?_!" Mylene squeaked hopefully.

"It is!" Alya said reassuringly. "Let's grab Nino and get him to ask Adrien now. The sooner we get this date booked, the sooner we get Golden Lotus out to sail!"

It didn't take much effort from that point onwards.

All Alya had to do was flutter her eyelashes at Nino and drop a few endearments to get him to agree to a secret triple date.

"All right, babe," Nino shrugged, "but Adrien's been weirdly busy these last couple weeks. I've only just got to spend some time gaming with him yesterday. I can't guarantee it'll happen anytime soon, you have anything in mind for what we're doing?"

She chose hunting down Andre for ice cream because it was one of the few things she knew Marinette desperately wanted to do with Adrien. Also the allure of forbidden frozen sweets would be too much for poor, skinny, on-a-strict-diet, Adrien Agreste to resist.

He said yes almost immediately as the words _ice cream_ left Nino's lips. It unfortunately took some time actually picking a date as Adrien's schedule was – as Nino predicted – jam-packed, but they eventually got a rare Friday evening booked.

And then telling Marinette had been a great joy, and really cheered Alya up herself, as the pig-tailed girl twittered excitedly and nervously about it for days.

"Oh God what should I even _wear_ Alya?!" Marinette despaired. "Should I put on a dress? Or would that look like I'm trying too hard, and Adrien will think I'm desperate and run away? Should I wear something more casual? Or would that look like I'm not trying at all, and Adrien will think I'm a slob, and run away? _What if I drip ice cream down myself_?!"

"Girl, just come the way you are," Alya said soothingly, "which is perfect and don't worry about the ice cream. In fact you should get it all smeared round your lips, I'm sure Adrien would love the excuse to lick-"

"ALYA!"

The lead up to the triple ice cream date had been filled with teasing and giggling as everyone really began to look forwards to it. Alya especially could use the time to relax and cuddle up with her very much neglected boyfriend (poor Nino was beginning to develop a bit of a pout every time Alya said she was busy) as she watched Adrien and Marinette take the next, very important, step towards a relationship...

But, of course, Adrien Agreste ruined it all entirely.

By not showing up at all.

MLBMLBMLBMLBMLBMLB

Mylene found Marinette first after the ice cream disaster.

It had been purely by accident as she was on her way to Rose's for an emergency Operation Golden Lotus meeting. Their shared instant chat really blew up last night when Mylene and Alya informed the other girls what happened and they were going to all meet up in person to re-group and decide their next step.

Mylene just happened to be passing when she spotted Marinette on the steps of a nearby bridge as she twirled the little plastic spoon in the elegant tub that only Andre would use. While Marinette didn't look as upset as last night there was still an aura of sadness about her as the pig-tailed girl kept her eyes downcast.

Mylene felt a pang of regret and sorrow that she had ever suggested this whole triple date thing.

"Marinette?"

Marinette jumped slightly, as Mylene had blatantly just pulled her out of her train of thought, and looked temporarily alarmed before her eyes rested on Mylene and she instantly relaxed. "Oh," she said quietly, "hey Mylene."

"Hey," Mylene murmured back as she moved to sit beside Marinette, "what are you doing out here?"

"Well," Marinette smiled sheepishly, "I didn't get my ice cream last night so I thought today was a good day for ice cream..."

"Was it nice?" Mylene asked.

"Uh-huh," Marinette nodded, "and, well, I got to apologise to Andre as well for last night."

"Oh Marinette!" Mylene cried out. "That wasn't _your_ fault!"

If anything it was Adrien's fault.

Well, Adrien's _father's_ fault.

If he would just let Adrien have some fun and come out with them then the whole night would have gone differently. Andre wouldn't have been Akumatised, Mylene wouldn't have spent all night tossing and turning and worrying over Marinette, and perhaps this morning Marinette would be giggling and squealing with delight rather than just trying to look like she's holding it altogether.

"It kinda was," Marinette mumbled, "if I handled my disappointment better then perhaps Andre wouldn't have been so hurt."

"No way!" Mylene shook her head so hard that she felt her own dreadlocks slap her cheeks. "Andre was more heartbroken that his own prediction didn't come true than with the way you reacted. He just wanted you to be _happy._ He's nice like that. It hurts him to see his customers so sad."

"Yeah," Marinette smiled, "he is nice."

There was a long, stretched out, silence and Mylene felt her usual low-level anxiety bubbling to the surface and she struggled to figure out what to say or do next that could make Marinette feel better. Oh, _why wasn't Alya here?_! Alya always knew the right thing to say! And _Alix_! Alix always knew how to make people laugh, and Rose was so good with the hugs, and Juleka handled silence far better than Mylene did.

Had she let the silence go too long? Maybe Marinette wanted her to leave? Should Mylene offer to leave?

She wished Ivan was here. He had this amazing ability to soothe Mylene's frazzled nerves and boost her confidence. If he was here his big, warm, comforting hand would be on her back and she might actually be able to say _something_ to Marinette.

"Mylene!" Marinette blurted out. It was so sudden that the blonde almost jumped out of her skin from the shock of it all."Do you think I'm fooling myself with this whole Adrien thing?"

"W-w-w-what do you mean?" Mylene stammered out nervously. "What do you mean by _fooling_ yourself?"

"Well, just that, I try so hard all the time and he barely notices me as a friend," Marinette said quietly. Her big blue eyes were focused on the floor so one of her glossy pig-tails hide her face from Mylene. It was difficult to read Marinette's expression but Mylene had a sickening feeling that Marinette was trying her very best to not let her negative feelings get to her. "What if I'm missing someone else because I'm too focused on Adrien? What if there is someone just as a beautiful, and kind, and _so very sweet,_ and he likes me. He _really likes_ me. Enough for roses and candles and starry nights on the rooftop...and I'm missing my chance with him because I'm too hung up on Adrien?"

"Is there _someone else_?" Mylene asked curiously.

"...No," Marinette mumbled, "no there isn't."

But there had been a beat of silence that dragged on a little too long there and a vague note of falseness in Marinette's voice when she finally did speak.

Or maybe Mylene was imagining it, and there _wasn't_ someone else.

"Then I wouldn't worry about it," Mylene said reassuringly, "because you're not going to miss the someone who will do roses and candles and starry nights on the rooftop. I know you won't because _Adrien_ will do it all with you one day. I've seen the way he looks at you sometimes and he's always reaching out to touch you. He doesn't do that to anyone else, not _Nino_ his best friend, not _Chloe_ is supposedly best friend, _no one_ , but you? He's always trying to touch your shoulder, and lean into your personal space, brushes his hand against yours, and he gives you those winks!"

"Does he?" Marinette flushed. "I, erm, hadn't noticed."

"He _does!_ " Mylene asserted. "Ask Alya, I think she has a spreadsheet or something documenting every single touch. Adrien might not realise it right now – he's a boy, they're kinda thick like that, but he does _like_ you Marinette. Very much so, and one day you will get your ice cream date with him. So you see, you're not being foolish at all! You're just being patient and romantic."

Marinette smiled at that.

And this time it was her _real_ smile. The radiant one that lights up her whole face and makes her eyes sparkle with true joy.

Mylene couldn't help but smile back at the sight of it.

"Thanks Mylene!" Marinette quickly hugged her. "I really needed to hear that."

"Anytime, Marinette," Mylene hugged her back.

"You got anything planned?" Marinette asked as she pulled away. "We could hang out today if you like, get another ice cream?"

"Oh, erm," Mylene's cheeks burned brightly. She couldn't exactly tell Marinette that she did have plans and they involved talking about Marinette behind her back! That would be terribly awkward and embarrassing. "Ivan and I..." she lied feebly.

"Oh, that's okay," Marinette smiled understandingly, "I probably should go home anyway and start in on my homework. I'll see you Monday."

"See you on Monday!"

And with another quick hug, the two parted ways.

Mylene then hurried over to Rose's quickly.

There had been a time in Mylene's life where she believed no one's bedroom could be more pink than Marinette's, and then she saw Rose's room and found out that there was a totally new level of pink. The carpet was a deep fuchsia, the walls were virtually neon pink with rose stencils and oddly out of place glam rock posters that undoubtedly Juleka helped pick out, and the bedding, curtains, and furniture were all various shades of pink.

Even Rose's teddy that sat in prime position on her bed was a pale, faded, pink.

It almost hurt Mylene's eyes.

" _Finally!_ " Alix cried out. "We were going to eat these snacks without you if you were another five minutes late."

Mylene smiled in amusement. Rose even had pink cups filled with orange juice and biscuits all laid out on a matching pink plate. She wondered how Rose managed to persuade her parents to purchase pink kitchenware to match her room.

"Sorry," she apologised quietly, "I bumped into Marinette on my way."

"How is she?" Alya asked worriedly. "Girl hasn't been answering my texts all morning."

"She's dealing," Mylene said, "she had some doubts but I manage to reassure her that she isn't pursuing a lost cause."

"Good," Alya nodded satisfied, "I love Marinette, but I swear to God she let's her own insecurities get the better of her at times."

"So last night was a total wash out, then?" Alix asked.

"Adrien was a no-show," Alya confirmed, "but that isn't _too_ unusual, his father prevents Adrien from doing anything fun at the most _random_ times. Nino did warn us this might happen."

"So what now?" Rose demanded. "Are we going to try and arrange another after school meet up?"

"No," Alya shook her head firmly, "if Adrien's Dad is anything like Nino described then they might get brutally cancelled over and over again until Marinette's self-esteem gets completely crushed and _she's_ the next Akuma."

Everyone shuddered at the thought.

They've all been through that experience themselves and wouldn't wish it on anyone, even _Chloe_ , but the thought of creative, determined, and down-right crazy brave Marinette being an Akuma was a truly extra terrifying thought.

"So..." Juleka mumbled. "What then?"

"We'll go back to focusing on getting Marinette and Adrien to interact more in school," Alya said confidently, "she's less likely to get burned that way, and we can continue to build her confidence back up."

"But I thought the whole point of the ice cream date was because Chloe kept interrupting Marinette and Adrien's conversations at school," Alix frowned, "how is any of that is going to change _now_?"

"Well," Alya grinned, "that's where the next operation comes in."

" _Another_ one?!" Alix complained.

"Yep," Alya's grin turned a smug shade, "I call it Operation Get Rid of Queen B-"

" _Alya_!" Rose exclaimed, scandalised.


	3. Chapter 2: Operation Get Rid Off Queen B

**Operation Get Rid Off Queen Bitch**

It sounded simple enough.

Just simply keep Chloe away from Adrien and Marinette.

It was easier said than done.

Chloe was a lot of bad things – spoiled, shallow, selfish, _pure unadulterated evil_...but never let it be said that she wasn't stubborn, determined, and fought back just as fiercely as her rivals. She was not an adversary to be underestimated.

And she certainly wasn't _stupid_.

Or oblivious.

Unlike other blonds that Alya could think of - _coughAdriencough_ \- and so within mere seconds of engineering a new situation between Adrien and Marinette, Chloe would appear out of thin air and force her way between the two as she insulted Marinette viciously and dragged Adrien down the corridor before the poor boy could even blink.

It was infuriating as hell.

So they had to work on a way to block her. Rose and Mylene insisted on friendly tactics as they were, and Alya was directly quoting from the pair here, _better than that_. So the first few attempts consisted of a double attacking, either Alix pushed Marinette into Adrien's arms or Alya engineered a conversation between the pair while Rose, Mylene, and Juleka all tried to distract Chloe with a conversation.

It did not work.

 _Like at all._

Whatsoever.

It didn't help that none of them were very good at the whole distraction thing to begin with but compared to Chloe's determination they had no chance at all.

"Hi Chloe!" Rose had chirped nervously. "I, ah, erm, would like some fashion tips! Yeah! I need some fashion tips."

"Here's a tip," Chloe spat out nastily as she elbowed Rose out of the way, "drop the baby pink crap and put some extensions in so you won't look like a boy."

Rose spluttered indignantly but it was too late. Chloe had hold of Adrien's arm and dragged him halfway down the corridor before Marinette could even blink.

Juleka had mumbled something in her attempts. They could have been questions engineered to distract Chloe or they could have been insults (and _no one_ would blame Juleka for that) but they were so quiet that Chloe would breeze by without acknowledging the poor girl before she flung herself at Adrien and squeezed him so tightly that no one would be surprised if Adrien hobbled into A&E with broken ribs.

And Mylene...

Well, she _tried._

"Chloe!" Mylene cried out. "I, erm, ah, you, well, err..."

"Our of the way, Fatso!" Chloe spat out cruelly.

And then she would flip her hair into Mylene face as she screeched out some babied version of Adrien's name. It took all six girls to haul Ivan back from attacking Chloe. The taller boy was vastly stronger than all of them (apart from, weirdly enough, Marinette who could push Ivan back with one hand) and it took all their collective strength to keep him from punching Chloe for her insult. So, of course, Chloe totally got away with kidnapping Adrien as Marinette was distracted with soothing Mylene hurt feelings and calming Ivan's temper.

"It only end in tears for you, Ivan!" Mylene said tearfully. "You know she would get you expelled or worse arrested for assault! That's exactly the sort of person she is!"

"Yeah, man," Alix agreed, "it's not worth it. We'll get her back another way."

"You better," Ivan grumbled.

"Chloe will get her just desserts one day," Marinette said calmly as she rubbed soothing circles on Mylene's back as she held the sobbing girl. "Don't listen to her Mylene, you're absolutely gorgeous just the way you are. Everyone comes in different shapes and sizes, and I bet Chloe's just envious that you have curves she could never achieve without stuffing her bra."

Mylene spluttered out a laugh at that.

"Marinette is right," Ivan said solemnly, "you're the most beautiful girl in this school."

Alya and the others could have been insulted by that but it was too sweet and adorable to take offence. Mylene had been cheered up vastly by it and the innocent, loving, kiss she and Ivan shared was enough to give even Marinette diabetes from the sugary sweetness.

Still, _they were nowhere near getting Adrien and Marinette alone!_

"Being nice about it is getting us nowhere!" Alix burst out crossly during their meeting. This time round they were holed up in Alya's room with the door barricaded shut to keep out her pestering little sisters out. "We need to be tougher or Chloe will be dragging Adrien away with her _zimmer frame_ at this rate!"

"That's a bit harsh," Rose frowned, "one would hope that Adrien would have grown a spine or Marinette the ability to talk coherently long before then."

"Keep hoping," Juleka muttered darkly.

"We don't have much choice," Alya rolled her eyes, "if we do anything other than try to talk to Chloe then she as a reason to complain and gets us into trouble, and I rather not explain to my parents why I've been suspended again."

"Whatever happened to _whatever it takes_?" Alix asked snarkily. "I thought you were willing to sacrifice your time, lives, freedom, and first born child to see Operation _Golden Lotus_ succeed."

Alya squirmed at that, and she wasn't the only one. Rose, Juleka, and Mylene all looked really uncomfortable at their lack of conviction these days. The lack of any change was disheartening and the stalemate with Chloe was finally getting to their morale.

They had already given up.

"I think Marinette would forgive us if we choose our educations over her love life," Alya said confidently. Though honestly she felt terrible about the whole thing. "She wouldn't want us to get kicked out of school on her behalf."

"True," Alix agreed, "she would get ridiculously guilty over it and give us free pastries...so let's get expelled!"

" **NO**!"

Alya was glad to say she wasn't the only one to bark at Alix for that. The pink-haired girl pouted at them all. "None of you are any fun," she grumbled.

"We can't be expelled," Juleka said quietly but firmly, "so we just have to make sure we're not _caught_."

" _Juleka_!" Rose cried out. "You're so sneaky!" her cheeks turned a faint pink reminiscent of Marinette's blushes. "I _like_ it," Rose mumbled.

Alya shot a pointed look at Alix who rolled her eyes in reply.

 _Those two would be so perfect together!_

"Okay, we try harsher measures with Chloe," Alya decided, "but we do it _sneakily_. So what's the new plan in Operation Get Rid Off Queen Bitch?"

Rose looked disapprovingly at that but Juleka merely smirked. "I'm going to give her a taste of her own medicine," Juleka rubbed her hands together gleefully, " _I'm going to lock her up!_ "

...Alya might have to worry about Juleka becoming an evil mastermind in the near future but as it was totally working in her favour today she wasn't going to worry about it now.

MLBMLBMLBMLBMLBMLB

Juleka had been looking forwards to this day for a long time.

Ever since Chloe had Sabrina lock Juleka in the bathroom during class photo day, Juleka had been dreaming of having her revenge. She had managed to not think _too much_ on it as she actually got her photo (thanks to Marinette!) and being turned into an Akuma had drained her from most of her anger at the time. But as time dragged on, Juleka had the occasional flashback to the helpless and lost feeling she had when she was locked away.

She couldn't stand being in a bathroom cubicle for too long without the worry and fear of being locked in again striking. It got to the point where she avoided using the bathroom as much as possible at school or in public places, so she wouldn't be stuck in a little cubicle with the steadily rising fear she'll never get out.

It was ridiculous, she knows that, but still, that fear was there and it was all Chloe's (and Sabrina's) fault.

Juleka wasn't really the forgiving or sweet type.

That was all Rose, Marinette, and Mylene.

And she wasn't the laid back and cool type of person either.

That was her big brother Luka.

No, Juleka was her _mother's_ child.

She held onto her righteous anger for as long as possible so she could see justice prevail. Chloe deserved a taste of her own medicine once in a while. It might finally make the brat _grow up_ and get a reality check.

So the following day after their umpteenth failure of distracting Chloe, and after Juleka had time to plot every minute detail to perfection, Juleka set out to keep Chloe away for once and for all while Alya set up another chance for Marinette and Adrien. She followed the bossy blonde girl and her annoying red-headed sidekick all day waiting for her moment to strike. Luck was on Juleka's side as the pair finally separated near the end of the day as Sabrina went to the library and Chloe slunk into the bathroom to do her hair or something equally ridiculous.

Juleka immediately rushed forwards with a wooden chair and slipped it beneath the handle. _Just as they had done with her!_ And with a victorious smirk, she quickly texted the others to let them know that _Operation Golden Lotus was a go_ before she listened out for Chloe's shrieks of despair.

She wasn't disappointed.

It took twenty minutes for Chloe to realise that she was locked in (probably too busy preening at her reflection to notice sooner) and when she did, she immediately banged against the door and wailed loudly about how _it was so unfair_ and _wait till Daddy heard about this!_

Juleka threw her head back and laughed at this.

Well...she snickered.

Juleka wasn't the type to cackle loudly for all to hear.

(Rose was the only exception.)

She then quickly dashed away from the crime scene before a teacher could catch her. Within a couple minutes she was once more by Rose's side (who greeted her with the sweetest smile Juleka had ever seen) as the pair of them (and Mylene, Alya, and Alix) watched Adrien and Marinette interact with one another.

Adrien was sheepishly scratching the back of his neck as he beamed down radiantly at Marinette. His gorgeous green eyes were firmly fixed on Marinette's glowing face (which was steadily turning a lovely shade of crimson) as Marinette's stammers were beginning to fade into coherent speech.

"...what I was trying to say is that Dad and I are having a Mega Strike marathon this Saturday," Marinette babbled, "but you're more than welcome to join us if you're free? I mean, I know you're usually busy, with your modelling, and the piano lessons, and the Chinese, and" Alya coughed loudly at this as if to remind Marinette to get back to the point, " _ah!_ I mean if you're free just drop by. We could have a couple matches."

"Thank you, Marinette," Adrien grinned, "I would like that very mu-"

" **ADRI-KINS**!"

Juleka felt her eye twitch irritably as Chloe suddenly smacked right into Adrien. Her arms were all over him like a _freaking octopus_ as she buried her head into Adrien's shoulder.

"C-C- _Chloe_!" Adrien stiffened. "I was in the middle of a conver-"

"You promised me that you would go shopping with me this Saturday, _remember?_ " Chloe interrupted the boy with a big, over the top, pout. "We were going to pick out outfits for that big dinner with all the other rich people tomorrow, _remember?_ "

Adrien opened his mouth and judging by the frown etched onto his face he was about to say something how every word out of Chloe's mouth was a lie or that he didn't remember, or that he didn't want to go, or even to point out that tomorrow was _Thursday_ and not _Saturday_ , but before he could utter a single word Chloe interrupted him.

"Come along Adri-kins!" She cooed in a sickening voice as she began to drag the poor helpless boy down the corridor. "We're going to need our beauty sleep now if we're going to shop till we drop tomorrow."

Adrien threw a pleading look at Marinette which screamed ' _HELP ME PLEASE!_ ' but the pigtailed girl merely crossed her arms as she glowered at Chloe, missing the look completely.

Juleka gritted her teeth. " _How?!_ " she hissed venomously under her breath. "How did she get out so quickly?!"

" _Hem, hem!_ "

Juleka, Rose, Mylene, Alya, and Alix all whirled round to find Sabrina behind them. Her hands were set on her hips and her glasses flashed dangerously as she levelled a dark glare at the lot of them.

"I don't know which one of you it was," Sabrina said in a deadly voice, "but I know _it was one of you_ and if I catch you trying to lock my best friend up again I will make sure you pay."

Juleka fumed.

" _Ha_!" Alix barked out sarcastically. "I'd like to see you try."

Sabrina sniffed haughtily. "I hope you had fun trying to matchmake Adrien and Marinette," she said in a falsely sweet voice, "but you'll never get anywhere. Nothing can get between Adrien and Chloe's friendship."

" _Pfft!_ " Alya snorted derisively. "What friendship? Chloe doesn't know the meaning of friendship. Adrien is just a toy to her and you're nothing but a slave."

Sabrina lifted her head up proudly. "Chloe is the best and dearest friend one could have," she said indignantly, "unlike you little rats."

She then marched past them only to pause briefly enough to look down at her nose at them before she sniffed haughtily once more.

"I hate her," Juleka whispered, "I hate them both."

Rose slipped her hand through Juleka's and squeezed her fingers comfortingly. "Who doesn't?" she murmured softly. "They're a pair of witches."

"We'll try again," Alya said determinedly, "we'll take harsher measures. I don't care if Chloe gets us expelled from _every school_ in Pairs, we're not letting her get past us again. We will do whatever it takes in order to give Marinette the chance she deserves to talk to Adrien!"

Juleka looked up startled and she was glad to note she wasn't the only one. Rose and Mylene looked equally surprised and inspired by Alya's words while Alix raised a quizzical eyebrow up.

"What happened to _our educations are more important than Marinette's love life_?" Alix asked bemused. "You changed your tune quickly, _again_. I might add."

"I had a wake up call last weekend," Alya explained, "my little sisters got Akumatised and I was given the chance to be a – err, I mean I had my eyes open to what's important and what's important is _Marinette's happiness_. And the right thing to do is to ensure that happiness _no matter what_. Good triumphs over evil every day and that's _exactly_ what we're going to do."

"Oh bother!" Alix rolled her eyes.

Juleka, however, felt emboldened by Alya's inspiring little speech and her determination now had a steely resolution to it.

She looked forwards to getting in Chloe's way.

MLBMLBMLBMLBMLBMLB

Alix had to admit that she was looking forwards to finally having some action.

As convoluted as Marinette's ridiculous plan with the rickshaw and stop sign was, it was still a great deal more _fun_ than trying to get Adrien and Marinette to talk to one another. And Alix thrived on fun action-y stuff like deliberately standing in Chloe's way and maybe, _just maybe_ , pushing her back too.

They got their chance the following Monday.

Alya managed to start up another conversation between the extremely awkward pair about music and, as if she was a heat-seeking missile, Chloe immediately zoomed in on them with a constipated expression on her face.

"Queen Bitch is on the move," Alix muttered to Mylene, "go, go, go!"

They rushed forwards to form a blockade in the corridor. Alix, Mylene, Juleka, Rose, and Alya all stood firm and proud in the middle of the corridor, their arms entwined tightly so they formed a strong wall. Chloe ducked to the right but they hastily shuffled to block her and when she bobbed to the left they shuffled back to block her before she could get past them. Chloe tried the right again, then the left, and then right, left, and she even tried to get beneath them but they kept their legs tight together.

"Urgh!" Chloe shrieked. " _Move_!"

"No," Alix replied flatly, "and if you try to get between my legs again, I _will_ kick you."

Chloe narrowed her eyes. "You move," she hissed furiously, "or I'll get my Daddy to expel you!"

"Big whoop," Alya rolled her eyes, "you do that and we," she gestured to all of them, "will go to the press and do everything we can to ruin your Daddy's political career."

Chloe's face turned an interesting shade of red and Alix could have sworn that she could see steam coming out of the blonde's ears.

 _Heh_!

Chloe tried to dive towards the right again but the girls immediately blocked her again and then Chloe made another attempt for the left once more only to be blocked again.

" **ARGH**!"

"Mr Damocles! Mr Damocles!" Sabrina called out. "Alix, Alya, Rose, Juleka, and Mylene are all _bullying_ Chloe!" She shot an infuriatingly superior smug look at the girls. "Punish them before I tell my Dad, and he's the head of police and friends with the mayor."

Mr Damocles, to his credit, rolled his eyes at that and looked like he didn't believe a single word that came out of Sabrina's mouth. However Chloe let out a long, ear-piercing, scream as she reached for her mobile phone and before they all knew it they were dragged into the headmaster's office, lectured for an eternity, and given a detention.

"Well," Rose said cheerfully, "at least it's just _one_ detention. I thought for sure we would get a worse punishment."

"Yeah but it's _Friday_!" Alix whined. "I was supposed to kick ass at the skate park this evening not twiddling my thumbs in a classroom and then explaining to my Dad _why_. You know I'm going to get grounded for this, right?"

"It's worth it," Juleka's lips twitched, "just to see Chloe throw a strop."

Alix grinned. "Yeah, all right," she relented, "was it me or was there steam pouring out of her ears?"

" _Totally_!" Alya smirked. "And," she waved her mobile phone in front of them. Alix could barely make out a text from Nino filled to the brim with emojis. "Golden Lotus were able to talk a _full five minutes_ where the Golden Button escorted the lovely Lotus Flower back to class and even _carried her books for her_!"

" _Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww_!" Rose and Mylene cooed in unison.

"Sweet!" Juleka muttered.

Alix rolled her eyes but she had to admit it was sweet and it was great to finally hear that Golden Lotus doing something _instead_ of stammering and blushing at one another. "Any chance of a date happening this century?" she asked flatly.

"Baby steps," Alya said firmly, "we're getting there."

"Oh _pur_ -lease!" Chloe drawled out loudly behind them. They all jumped – Rose and Mylene even went as a far as letting out a squeak of fear as they clung to one another – and whirled round to see the unimpressed blonde glowering at them. "You can try, try, and try again with your silly little intrigues and you'll get nowhere, and not just because Adri-kins actually has _taste_ and wouldn't touch _Marinette Dupain-Cheng_ with a ten foot broomstick, but because Adrien, bless that beautiful boy, is _thicker than two planks of wood_ and will never realise that _Marinette_ ," she spat out Marinette's name like an insult and Alix couldn't help but bristling at the offence, "has an _ickle crush_ on him. They'll be friends and nothing else for the end of their days."

"You're wrong, Chloe," Alya said firmly, "on all counts. Adrien _likes_ Marinette and he sees her, and they will end up together. It's _inevitable_."

"Yeah!" Rose shouted. "True love triumphs over all!"

Chloe rolled her eyes. "Whatever _baby_ ," she said mockingly, "I've known Adri-kins the longest and therefore I know better. You'll _never_ get your, what did you call it? Oh yeah, _Golden Lotus_ ship. Especially if you keep being _subtle_. Adrien will never get a clue."

She then threw her head back and cackled like an evil witch before she headed back to class. Alix crossed her arms and glowered at the back of Chloe's stupid yellow top that was so pathetically _peppy_.

"Hag," Juleka mumbled.

"Agreed," Alix muttered.

"Don't let her get to you," Alya advised, "she's a whiny, needy, pathetic person who needs to bring people down just to validate herself." Everyone murmured in agreement at that. "Come on, let's go to class before Damocles gives us another detention."

The afternoon dragged by and despite her agreement that Chloe's words didn't matter, Alix couldn't help but agree with them a bit. Adrien was _**not**_ the sharpest knife in the drawer especially when it came to girls and friends and interacting with people in general. Alix had no doubt whatsoever that if they kept with the subtle plan then the likelihood of Adrien even realising that Marinette _was a girl_ would take another century.

So after school was finished and Alix spotted Marinette and Adrien not far from one another in the corridor she couldn't resist but act.

"WATCH OUT!"

Marinette barely had time to glance in Alix's direction before Alix shoved her right into Adrien's arms.

" **EEK!** "

"Oh my God, _Marinette_!" Adrien cried out as he caught her. "Are you okay?!"

"I...ah...you...err...erm...guh!" Marinette stammered. "Y-y-y-yeah!" she choked out. " _Peachy_!"

Alix rolled her eyes.

 _Oh dear God!_

"Good," Adrien said firmly though he smiled gently down at Marinette, "I wouldn't want you to get hurt."

" _Meep!_ "

Adrien had, thankfully, stepped away from Marinette before her head exploded from embarrassment. His eyes landed on Alix (who had crouched behind a row of lockers to spy on the pair) and narrowed as she tried to duck further behind the lockers to hide. "Could you please excuse me, Marinette?" Adrien asked politely. "I need to have a word Alix."

"Oh," Marinette murmured disappointedly, "Sure."

Alix hurriedly tried to make her escape by Adrien caught hold of her shoulder before she could make it past the next row of lockers.

"Hey Alix," Adrien smiled brightly.

Alix tried to not squirm because while Adrien looked radiant and sparkly and pretty like some sweet anime character, she couldn't shake the feeling that he was inwardly wishing for her imment death. There was an element of falseness in his smile that quite frankly freaked Alix out.

"Hey Adrien!" Alix shot for casual but sounded like she had just been caught out by her father. "What's happening dude?"

Urgh, when did she suddenly turn into _Nino?!_

"I know what you're doing," Adrien said quietly, "this is the tenth time this week alone that you pushed Marinette."

" _What?_!" Alix squeaked. "I have no idea what you're talking about!" she lied promptly.

Adrien levelled a stern look at her way and Alix felt sweat rapidly run down her head (which, _eww!)_ from the sheer nerves though she maintained a firm, fierce, gaze on a dark stain on the wall opposite to avoid that stupid parental-esque noble git stare that could get anyone (but not Alix!) to spill their inner most darkest secrets.

"I think you do," Adrien frowned disapprovingly. "I don't know what your problem is with Marinette but I won't stand for you _bullying_ her like this."

Wait, WHAT?!

Alix spluttered indignantly.

"If I catch you pushing Marinette again you _won't_ like the results," Adrien warned her, "I will ensure that you'll get punished. I hope you have a nice day."

He then turned round and stiffly marched back towards Marinette as Alix was left to splutter indignantly while now gawping at Adrien's back gormlessly.

 _The sheer nerve of it all!_

It shouldn't surprise her though. Adrien was _friends_ with the school bully, it's not like he would actually recongise what real bullying would consist of.

But _still!_

Alix was infuriated beyond compare!

So infuriated that she may or may not have let out a frustrated scream the moment she enterred the dentention room.

"Miss Kubdel!" the teacher snapped. "If you're not going to behave like a young adult I will have to assign you another dentention."

"Yes, Miss," Alix mumbled.

She then promptly threw herself into a nearby seat and pulled out a pen and notebook. _Okay, listen up fellow agents_ , she wrote furiously, _being subtle is_ _ **not working!**_ _Like at all! Adrien had just accused me of_ _ **bullying**_ _Marinette. If we wait for him to realise his feeling naturally we'll be waiting till hell freezes over._ _ **It's time to act.**_ _They have a freaking foundation now let's build a house on it before it's gone. I'm initiating Operation Cupboard of Lurve_ _ **with or without**_ _your approval._

She then passed the note to Mylene who's mouth dropped wide open. " _He thought_ _ **what?**_ **!** " she mouthed, horrified to Alix.

" _I know, right?!"_ Alix mouthed back.

Mylene shook her head disbelievingly as she scribbled down a reply and passed it onto Juleka. Juleka looked equally disbelievingly before she jotted down her answer and handed it to Rose (who actually let out a loud gasp) who then handed it to Alya. Alya frowned momentarily before she sighed in defeat. She then hastily jotted down her own reply before she passed it back through the others.

 _I agree,_ Mylene had written, _we need to change tactics._

 _It's time for a new operation,_ Juleka had written down.

 _I think so too_ , Rose had agreed.

 _All right, all right!_ Alya had scribbled. _I get the freaking point! Operation Cupboard of Lurve is go!_

Alix grinned victioriously as she pumped a fist in the air.

 _This_ , she decided, _is going to be_ _ **wicked!**_

Alix just couldn't wait.

She really, really, _really_ wanted to push Adrien into a cupboard now.


	4. Chapter 3: Operation Cupboard of Lurve

**Operation Cupboard of Lurve!**

Alix wasn't going to lie.

The bit about this plan that excited her the most wasn't the thought of Marinette and Adrien's lips finally locking ( _blee!_ ) or the possibility that by the time they freed them from their confinement Marinette and Adrien becoming a couple and all that other gushy, boring, lovey dovey crap (double _blee_!).

No, the bit that excited Alix the most was the fact that she got to be the one who pushed Adrien in the cupboard.

( _She had insisted on this!_ )

And so, after what felt like endless planning and plotting as they scoped out the perfect cupboard and went over and over the plan on how to get Adrien and Marinette into said perfect cupboard (Alix was seriously beginning to think that the convoluted plan involving the stop sign, Adrien's bodyguard, and the rickshaw, and all of it's intricate details had less to do with Marinette and more to do with _Alya_.), they were finally ready to enact said plan.

They found their opportunity bright and early on Thursday morning.

Rose and Juleka managed to bag the art room for themselves which would allow them access to the art storage cupboard. Cupboard would be an _understatement_ as it was more of a storage room but it was small, cluttered, and cramped. Which meant that Marinette and Adrien would have no choice but to huddle together during the day. All that close proximity and no where to go will undoubtedly lead to some lip action.

Alix waited in the art room with Juleka and Rose while Mylene fetched Adrien. Alix had no idea how she convinced the blonde boy to come running into the art room but she imagined that Mylene's sweet, tearful, face coupled with her actual nervous stammering for having to lie lead to a very believable cry for help for the gullible git.

Adrien burst in mere moments after he stepped onto school grounds.

"I heard someone was stuck," he said heroically, his chest all puffed out and his hands on his hips as if he was freaking Superman or something. Alix had to press her lips together really, really, hard to stop herself from snorting in Adrien's face."Where are they and how can I help?"

" _In here_!" Rose cried out as she pointed to the storage cupboard.

Adrien strides across the art classroom as if he's a knight in shining armour. He, oh so gallantly, opened the door and then blinked bewilderedly as his noble, heroic, expression evaporated into a dumbstruck one.

( _Alix must not laugh, Alix must not laugh, Alix must not laugh, Alix must not lau._..)

"Huh?" he scratched the back of his head. "There's no one in he-"

Alix attacked as swiftly as a cobra.

She immediately leaped behind him and with all her might and strength successfully shoved him into the storage cupboard before Juleka hurriedly slammed the door shut on him and locked the door.

Adrien instantly banged on the door. "Hey!" he called out. "This isn't funny! Guys? _Guys?!_ Come on! _Let me out!_ "

Step one was a success.

Now for step two and three.

 _Golden Button is in the sewing box_ , Alix texted gleefully to Alya (though she rolled her eyes at the code Alya insisted on), _time to cut the Lotus Flower._

"Come on Alix this isn't funny _whatsoever!_ " Adrien whined between knocks on the cupboard door. "If this is because I called you a bully last week then _you're only proving my point_!"

" _Oh my God_!" Alix snarled quietly as she shared an exasperated look with Juleka, Rose, and Mylene. "What _planet_ does he live on?!"

"Moron," Juleka muttered reassuringly.

They didn't have to listen to Adrien's repetitive knocks or whinge-y demands to be let out for long. Within ten minutes of sending her text, Marinette skidded into the art room with Alya hot on her heels.

"I...heard...someone...was stuck!" Marinette wheezed out. " _What happened?!_ "

For a moment Alix had thought Adrien had given up. There was utter silence on his side on the door and then the knocking started up again.

"Marinette?" Adrien called out hopefully. "Is that you? Can you let me out?!"

" **ADRIEN?**!" Marinette shrieked.

Her eyes virtually popped out of her head from the surprise of it all as a blush worthy of Ladybug's suit suddenly appeared from the top of her head to the tips of her toes (probably, Alix didn't know, she was kinda exaggerating, but the tops of Marinette's feet did look a little flushed). Alix had to really bite down on her tongue to stop herself snickering right there and then in her friend's face.

"What are you doing in there?!" Marinette cried out. She rushed over to the door instantly and tried to open it. The door rattled at her forceful attempt but the lock kept it in it's place. "How did you get stuck in there?!" Marinette asked bewilderedly.

"He tripped!" Rose cried out as she widened her eyes innocently as possible. "And before we could help him a gust of wind shut the door on him!"

"W-w-w- _what_?!" Adrien spluttered indignantly. "That's not what ha-"

"It was _horrible_!" Rose moaned melodramatically. Her voice rose up so loudly that it smothered Adrien's words completely. "We've been so _worried_ and _scared!_ Thank God you're here to help Marinette. You _always_ know what to do."

Mylene and Juleka nodded eagerly with equally wide-eyed innocent expressions fixed on their faces.

Alix personally felt this was laying it on a bit thick and Marinette was surely going to notice something was amiss and drag them all out to Damocles for a detention like the good little class representative she was.

However, a determined look fixed itself upon Marinette's face instead as she glared at the locked cupboard door. "Don't worry," Marinette said firmly, "I'll figure this out and get you out before class starts, Adrien, I _promise._ "

Wow.

Just... _wow._

Alix was impressed.

Either Rose was a far better actress than Alix had ever given her credit for or, Alix's eyes couldn't help but flicker to the firmly closed windows in the art room, Marinette was just as oblivious, gullible, and out right stupid as Adrien Agreste.

Either one was impressive.

"Huh?" Marinette blinked as she flicked the door lock. The door opened with ease the moment she had unlocked it and her sweet, confused, expression was almost endearing. "The door was locked...?" she murmured to herself. "But why-?"

"NOW!"

And without a single second of hesitation Alix, Mylene, Rose, Juleka, and Alya all immediately shoved Marinette into the cupboard as well.

" **EEK**!"

They hastily closed the door and immediately barricaded it with their bodies as Juleka fumbled with the lock.

 _CRASH!_

 _BANG!_

 _ **THUMP!**_

Mylene and Rose exchanged horrified worried expressions at the sound of what was probably an entire shelve of art supplies falling onto the floor but Alix and Alya merely rolled their eyes at each other.

Marinette had been clumsy again.

So bloody _typical!_

After what was probably one last bottle of paint or whatever crap the school keeps in there fell onto the floor there was a long, boring, never-ending, second of silence and then -

" _Marinette?!_ " Adrien cried out horrified. "Marinette!" he repeated more firmly. "Are you okay? Marinette please speak to me!"

Alix pressed her ear against the door waiting for one of Marinette's hilarious high-pitched squeaks of embarrassment or a whacky muddled-up sentence that would undoubtedly crack Alix up. Instead there was another long beat of silence, a sharp inhale, and then -

 **BANG!**

Alix and the others all jumped back as Adrien smacked his fist against the door so forcefully it almost broke the door of it's hinges.

"Open the door _now_!" Adrien growled uncharacteristically. "Or so help me God I will find my own way out!"

"No way!" Alya said stubbornly. "You and Marinette are going to stay in there until you tw-"

" _Marinette is unconscious!_ " Adrien hissed viciously. "You will let us out now so I can take her to the nurse's office or I will make you regret this!"

"Marinette's _**WHAT**_?!"

Alix didn't want to believe it because, well, come on, they didn't push her _that_ hard and she totally believed Adrien was capable of attempting to be sneaky and trick them into unlocking the door regardless how sunny and innocent he appeared to the rest of the world but Alya, Rose, and Mylene looked so horrified at the thought of accidentally knocking Marinette out that they instantly rushed to the lock and unlocked the door before Alix could protest.

The moment the door opened though Alix's jaw dropped open at the sight of Marinette passed out in Adrien's arms. It was like a ridiculous, over the top, swoon-y scene in a trashy romance novel As Adrien gathered the unconscious black-blue haired girl into his arms and lifted her up as if she was his _bride_ or _damsel in distress_ or what other icky crap trashy romance novels from the airport portray women as.

Adrien himself looked like he just stepped out of a romantic novel too as his emerald green eyes flashed dangerously and his lips were pressed in a grim, brooding, heroic line. All he needed was one of those flouncy white shirts opened to his navel to reveal his abs and he was set for life.

"I will deal with you later," he promised darkly.

And on that bad-ass parting note, he left the room while carrying Marinette as if she weighed no more than a small bag of sugar.

It was really impressive.

Alix never thought Adrien could be capable of such strength.

She might just be beginning to see what Marinette actually sees in him.

"Well," Alya pushed her glasses up her nose, "I think we can consider that one a success."

" _What?!_ " Alix cried out disbelievingly. "They didn't even stay locked in the cupboard for more than _two freaking minutes_ together! And that's being _generous_!" she yelled. "Marinette's clumsiness got in the way and she ended up _knocked out cold!_ There was no love confessions, no new understanding reached, no lip action – _how can you consider that a success?_!"

"Well," Alya smirked, "Adrien very romantically carried Marinette out like a princess to the nurse's office. That's a success in my books."

"So _romantic_!" Rose added with a swoon.

"I wish Ivan carried me like a princess!" Mylene agreed.

Her eyes shined like stars as she clearly went into fantasy land imagining her own scenario where Ivan was probably also dressed in a frilly shirt ( _Blergh!_ Someone pass Alix to sick bucket, quick!) and carrying Mylene off into the sunset probably upon a shiny white unicorn too.

Alix wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"Sweet," Juleka mumbled.

Her own eyes were a little glassy and cheeks tinged with a faint blush as she was also pulled into this sick gushy fantasy as well. Alix felt betrayed and outnumbered. Was she the only one that thought that was a stupid fantasy?

Was she the only one _actually thinking_ about how much trouble they might be in if they just keep standing there glazed eyed and sighing?

Most likely.

She was clearly the only sane one left in the group.

" _Oh dear God you're all nuts!"_ Alix proclaimed as she rolled her eyes. "Well never mind. _We,_ " she gestured round herself, "better get to class before we end up in detention again."

They didn't even make it to class before Headmaster Damocles had cornered them into the corridor. Boy, for a guy that stood still and looked pretty for the camera all day Adrien had sure moved fast and had no qualms on tattling on the lot of them on exactly _how_ Marinette ended up unconscious in the nurse's office.

They all got detention... _again_.

And Alix was firmly grounded the moment she came home.

Apparently the school called to inform her parents that she 'assaulted' a fellow student and neither of her parents were willing to hear out her side of the story.

 _It was so unfair!_

MLBMLBMLBMLBMLBMLB

Marinette's world spun round and round.

She knew that the earth spins everyday but she never _felt it_ before and it was never this _fast_ before either. It made her so dizzy and sluggish that every time she tried to sit up she was suddenly hit by a wave nausea so crippling that she flopped back down onto the welcoming and comforting softness that was her bed.

Marinette's world was also too bright and too noisy.

It hurt her eyes and made her head felt like someone was repeatedly banging a frying pan against her skull.

 _It hurts so much!_

Marinette couldn't help but whimper from the pain of it all.

"Hush Marinette," Tiki murmured softly as she nuzzled Marinette's cheek gently, "the doctor said you needed to rest remember?"

Not really.

Marinette remembered that someone - _Adrien!_ \- was stuck in the art room cupboard. She vaguely remembered opening the door and...well everything kinda got blurry from that point on. She _thinks_ Chat Noir carried her. She couldn't shake the feeling that it had been his cheese-tinted scent and warm, strong, arms that got her from the art cupboard to the nurse's office.

But that could have just been a dream.

It wouldn't have been the first time.

There was a faint memory of Mum's cool, comforting, hand against her forehead before she bundled somewhere – a ambulance perhaps? - and then everything was too bright and too loud again as she poked and prodded. It was all a headache inducing bright and colourful blur to her now.

"Rest," Tiki murmured enticingly, "I'll wake you up when it's been an hour, like the doctor said."

Marinette thinks she had slept.

It was hard to tell.

First she felt like she had been dragged into a heavy darkness and then there was this rustling sound and she felt the odd but soothing sensation of cool leather against her cheek. It smelt a bit like cheese.

"Kitty?" she slurred.

Her mouth felt woolly and stuffy and it was harder to speak than normal. And really that was saying _something_ considering how often she tripped over her own tongue on a daily basis!

" _Shh!_ " Chat Noir whispered. "You need to rest."

She opened her eyes which was a mistake because there was suddenly two Chat Noir's blurring into one before separating again and her head pounded horribly. Either this was all in her head (very possible) or it was all too real as Chat leaned in close and suddenly Marinette's forehead tingled from the light brush of something against her skin.

"Get well soon, Princess."

"Sweet Kitty," Marinette mumbled drowsily.

He chuckled quietly and there was another tingle on her cheek this time before he got up to go. Marinette reached out to stop him only for her arms to flop about uselessly and heavily as she couldn't quite tell which Chat Noir was the real Chat Noir as the world did another quick spin.

" _Don't go!_ " she whined. "Stay, just for a little while."

She hurt all over and could do with a little Kitty magic to help her sleep. She doesn't quite know why but there was something about Chat that always made her feel better. No matter how horrible and useless and ridiculous she felt, he always made her smile, and she could do with a little of that to soothe the pain in her head.

"Okay," Chat murmured as he slipped his hand into hers. Their fingers threaded together perfectly and she could feel the warmth of his palm through the cool leather of his glove. She sighed, it was soothing. "But only a little while."

"Till I'm asleep?" she asked hopefully.

His lips quirked as he did a little flourish over her hand. "As you wish," he quoted with a quiet smugness that would infuriate her on any other day.

Today however she squeezed his hand and relished the fact he squeezed hers back and took the comfort offered as it quickly lulled her back into a welcoming darkness of sleep.

The next time she was pulled out of darkness it was by her mother who gently but firmly nudged her awake, forced some painkillers down Marinette's throat, and stroked her hair until Marinette drifted back to sleep. The time after that her father woke her up and made her eat a little, and there was a muddy cycle of parents and Tiki nudging Marinette awake until finally Marinette woke up to find her headache had ebbed away to a dull pain and the nausea had lifted entirely.

"How are you feeling?" Tiki smiled.

"Much better, thanks," Marinette smiled back, "the world has stopped spinning so much and nothing's blurred."

"I'm glad," Tiki nuzzled her cheek affectionately, "you have the whole day off, doctor's orders. You need plenty of bed rest if you want to be fighting fit for school tomorrow."

" _Urgh_!" Marinette groaned as she flopped back onto her pillows. "I think I would rather have another concussion. We have another test in physics tomorrow!"

"Then you should rest and study for it," Tiki said sternly, "but first," her big, blue, eyes sparkled merrily, "you should probably attend to your get well present."

" _Huh?_!"

Tiki drifted out of Marinette's sight to reveal a small posy of the prettiest pink roses Marinette had ever seen. They started as a soft, warm, pink colour at the bottom but the colour slowly deepened to a dark pink at the very tips of the petals. They were lovely.

"Who...?"

Marinette stumbled out of bed towards them and almost immediately tripped over the steps in her haste to get to her desk. There was a little card tucked between the roses and she eagerly tore it open to find a hastily scrawled note.

 _Get Well Soon! And avoid art cupboards, you don't want to end up at the vets with another concussion. I hear they're ap- **paw** -ling! _

It was signed with a little black ink paw print but Marinette knew without a single shred of doubt who the flowers and the note were from. The God-awful pun was a giveaway.

Marinette rolled her eyes as she pressed the note against her lips.

She would tell Tiki later that it was because she was smothering a smile. Even if Chat Noir wasn't there to witness it she didn't need him to be encouraged to make more terrible cat puns about her well-being. She suffered enough as it was, _thank you very much!_

Tiki would just stare at Marinette with a flat, unimpressed, expression as she told Marinette she needed to stop lying to herself.

Marinette would outright refuse to acknowledge that as she tucked the note into her diary where it could be safe and undamaged.

Chat Noir was just the sweetest.

MLBMLBMLBMLBMLBMLB

"We're sorry!"

"So sorry!"

"Very sorry!

"Really, really sorry!"

"Like really, really, _really_ sorry!"

"It was an accident!"

"We didn't mean to hurt Marinette!"

"You see we were...well...erm...ah..."

"We were trying to matchmake Adrien and Marinette!"

"ALIX!"

"But the two of them, Adrien _especially_ , were being so oblivious and stupid," Alix carried on as she ignored Alya's, Rose's, Juleka's, and Mylene's aghast expressions of having their mission exposed to outsiders. "So we resorted to that old cupboard cliché trick thing but we didn't mean to push Marinette in so hard that she would just go careening into a shelve of art supplies! _Honest!_ We were only trying to make her happy! The point is..."

"... **WE'RE SORRY**!"

Alya had her head bent down in a bow of submission as she grovelled unattractively to avoid any terrifying glower that Sabine Dupain-Cheng might be wielding. She had seen Marinette lose her temper and she had no doubt her parents were equally, if not more so, petrifying to see when they lost theirs too. Especially when their precious little girl had been put in hospital (however temporarily). And she was right, the small, delicate, looking woman could put military generals to shame with her stern, unimpressed, glare as she had crossed her arms and greeted the girls with a frown the moment they stepped into the bakery.

Tom Dupain, however, had loomed terrifyingly in the corner of the bakery. His large form was trembling from the barely repressed rage and Alya was just waiting for him to erupt any second now.

It had already been a crappy couple weeks with not only a detention but a grounding (which always consisted of babysitting her annoying little sisters constantly) too for her actions. On top of that Alya hasn't really seen Marinette outside of class for what felt like an _eternity_ as an overprotective Adrien Agreste inserted himself between them every moment he could get.

Alya would leap for joy that her ship was finally sailing if it wasn't for the fact she really missed her best friend and wanted some time with her best friend that wasn't inside a class room.

So here she was.

Begging for forgiveness from her best friend's parents so she could finally have access to her friend again.

" _Pfft!_ "

Alya's eyes widened as she heard someone snort loudly before a deep, booming, roar of hysterical laughter had filled the room.

"Oh for _heaven's sake_ Tom!" Sabine cried out. "This isn't a laughing matter!"

Alya cautiously looked up to see Tom Dupain doubled over in hysterical laughter as he clutched his belly from the pain of it all and tears of mirth fell down his cheeks. It was contagious too as a small smile curved on Sabine's lips while she bit down on her cheek to prevent her own giggles in spite of her words.

Soon enough they were all laughing.

"Don't worry about it," Tom wheeze between chortles, "Marinette has gotten into worse scraps just crossing the street and it's not like you _intended_ to hurt her, right?"

" _Of course not_!" Rose cried out horrified. "We could never purposely hurt Marinette, she's our friend!"

"There you go then," Tom nodded, "water under a bridge."

"Erm, speaking of water," Alya said a little hesitatingly (because Sabine might have laughed but she didn't look like she completely _agreed_ with Tom's whole 'water under a bridge' attitude), "we were, erm, thinking of going swimming this Saturday to celebrate the end of our grounding. Can Marinette come too?"

"I don't know, that depends" Tom's grin widened into a smirk, "you're not planning on drowning my baby girl so Adrien can give her the kiss of life are you?"

"NO!" Alya, Rose, Mylene, Juleka, and Alix all shouted, scandalised.

Though to be fair it wasn't like the Dupain-Chengs had no reason to think that was a possibility.

If Alya didn't think it would end in catastrophe she would be more than half tempted by the idea.

"It's a girls only event," Alya added hastily, "no boys allowed."

"Good," Sabine said decisively, "I see no reason why Marinette can't go. She's up in her room if you want to ask her yourselves."

It wasn't much of an invitation but Alya took what she could get and all but ran up to the Dupain-Cheng apartment before Sabine changed her mind and decided to have a little word with them and her rolling pin. The others followed Alya's lead and by the time they reached the Dupain-Cheng living room they were all out of breath.

"You know," Alix said casually as they padded down the hallway, "Mr Dupain has a point. Drowning Marinette in front of Adrien might be the only way we're going to get them into some lip-locking action."

"WE'RE NOT DROWNING MARINETTE!"

There was a quiet click as Marinette's bedroom door unlocked and slight wooshing sound as it slid open to reveal Marinette face. "I'm glad to hear that," her grin was as big and bright as her father's, "seeing as I'm rather partial to not drowning myself."

" _Marinette_!"

There was a bit of a struggle as they had all rushed towards Marinette at the same time and tried to get to her first. After being elbowed, almost kicked in the face, and pushed several times, Alya and the others all managed to clamber into Marinette's bedroom. Marinette beamed and hugged them all with ease which immediately reassured Alya that she wasn't cross or upset about the cupboard thing at all.

God, that girl can be too forgiving sometimes.

But Alya wasn't going to complain if it meant she got to keep the best friend she ever had.

Just as Alya pulled away from her own hug (which she was sure was extra long compared to the others) she caught sight of a bouquet of pink roses perched on Marinette's desk. They were pretty much on their last legs as the ends of the petals were curled up and black and the heads were wilting, but she could see it used to be a sight to behold and clearly it was something Marinette treasured.

"Girl," Alya grinned, "who's been sending you roses?"

"O-o-oh!" Marinette immediately flushed a bright pink that matched her flowers. "They were a get well gift from a friend."

Alya exchanged smug glances with Rose, Juleka, Mylene, and Alix.

From a _friend._

They all knew _who_ that meant.

"You mean," Alix smirked, "a gift from _Adrien_."

"N-n-no, someone else," Marinette stammered out, " _you don't know him_!" she added quickly.

Alya frowned at that.

Marinette had other friends. Not particularly close ones but she did have them, they were from her artistic connections and other class representatives and people she had bumped into repeatedly at the park, and all of them she had least mentioned by name and talked about to Alya.

There wasn't a single friend of Marinette's that Alya didn't know.

"Who?" she asked.

"Oh, erm, ah, well he's a friend I met around, you know?" Marinette said vaguely. "He's really nice, and sweet, and polite and brave, with a stupid sense of humour, and the loveliest green eyes."

Rose and Mylene immediately broke into giggles as Juleka's eyebrows went up and Alix and Alya exchanged triumphant grins.

"Marinette!" Alya cried out exasperatedly. "You have literally just described Adrien!"

Marinette spluttered incoherently at that.

They all settled down as they waited for Marinette to regain her ability to speak. Alix was playing with her phone while Juleka and Mylene whispered between them, and Rose drifted closer to the flowers she was named after and sniffed them appreciatively.

" _Pink roses_!" she trilled looking utterly delighted. "The fourth most romantic rose there is!"

"Only the fourth?" Alya said disappointedly.

She hadn't spent all this time trying to get her ship to sail only for Adrien to bottle out and buy Marinette the _**fourth**_ most romantic rose!

"Uh-huh!" Rose hummed. "Red is arguably the most romantic, then there is lavender which means love at first sight, and white is for marriages. Pink is the fourth that I can think of on the top of my head."

"Huh," Alix blinked, "and what does pink mean, Rose?"

"Gentle admiration," Rose said promptly, "whoever sent you these Marinette, admires you greatly."

Marinette stammered and stuttered up a storm as her cheeks steadily turned a deeper, darker, shade of pink.

"It's a stable flower to give," Rose carried on brightly, "usually between mother and daughters or boyfriends and girlfriends." Marinette's cheeks were almost red now as she wildly mouthed the words _boyfriends and girlfriends_ to herself. "But see here," Rose pointed at the tips of the petals, "the darker pink indicates that the gentle admiration is becoming _passionate_. It means _he's falling in love with you_!"

There was a beat of silence and then suddenly a loud, high-pitched, squeal excitement left Alya's lips the same time it left Mylene's and Rose's. The three of them jumped up and down excitedly as Alix rolled her eyes (though she was definitely grinning at the same time), Juleka smiled warmly, and Marinette looked as if she had been hit over the head with another dozen art supplies as her mouth kept opening and closing like a fish.

Eventually they all quietened down to actually catch up and invite Marinette properly out for swimming. Marinette had accepted cheerfully and they moved on to talk about everything and nothing until they had no choice but to go home back to their families (or risk being grounded again, and Alya was hoping to avoid that for at least another month).

"Remember," Alya said as she hugged Marinette tightly, "eleven o'clock at the swimming pool. Don't be late this time!"

"I remember!" Marinette rolled her eyes. "And I won't be late, I promise."

Marinette was late.

She was, in fact, _beyond_ late.

But considering the fact that a photo of Marinette in her pyjamas and Adrien Agreste's arms tagged with the hashtag _#AdrienAgreste'sGirlfriend_ flooded their social media, Alya and the others were more than willing to forgive Marinette for her lateness.


	5. Chapter 4: Enter Agent Cherry Blossom

**Operation Subliminal Lotus**

 **AKA Enter Agent Cherry Blossom**

"And you're definitely not Adrien Agreste's girlfriend?"

It was the twelve hundredth and seventy second time Alya had asked that question in two days and for the twelve hundredth and seventy second time Marinette had replied with the exact same answer.

"For the last time Alya," Marinette said impatiently, "I am _not_ Adrien's girlfriend. That was the press jumping to conclusions. Can we talk about something else now?"

Alya was severely disappointed.

She had been suffering from disappointment since early Saturday afternoon when Marinette explained that she and Adrien were still firmly in the friend zone. Every accusation of a secret relationship was dismissed without a flicker of an eyelash and unfortunately Marinette getting so caught up in watching and re-watching Adrien's new perfume advert that she would forget to get dressed before leaving home was _very much in character_ for Marinette. So there was no kinky secret romance to interrogate after.

It hadn't stopped Alya from trying to catch Marinette out though.

And Marinette's answer had not change a single jot which means it was most likely true.

 _Poo!_

"Sure," Alya replied calmly, "And you're _definitely_ definitely sure that Adrien isn't going to ask you out anytime soon?" she pressed instead.

Marinette let out an aggravated sigh. "I'm sure," she said miserably, "right now to Adrien I'm nothing but the freaking weirdo who wears pyjamas, goggles, and a towel on her head like a turban to the cinema of all places – _**ack!**_ " she covered her face which was rapidly turning scarlet before Alya's eyes, "I'm going to end up a single crazy cat lady with a restraining order firmly slapped on her while Adrien marries a dazzling starlet beauty who cures the common cold and solves world hunger!"

Alya rolled her eyes. "Veering off to crazy land right there, Girl," she said sternly as she flicked Marinette's forehead. "As if such a girl exists and I bet Adrien thought the goggles and towel turban was cute, he's weird like that too, remember?"

" _He is not!_ " Marinette glared fiercely. "He is the sweetest, loveliest, nicest guy I know and is the closest thing to perfection I haven't seen with those deep, soulful, emerald gaze and a smile that out dazzles the su- **MEEP**!"

Marinette immediately slapped a hand over her mouth as her cheeks flushed to a near burgundy colour at the sight of Adrien Agreste (who else would it be?) stood at the bottom of the stairs leading to the school building. The boy with the deep, soulful, emerald gaze and a smile that definitely out-dazzled the sun (it wasn't hard, today was cloudy and the sunlight looked watered down and milky) turned that soulful gaze and dazzling grin directly at Marinette.

"Hey, Marinette," Adrien greeted pleasantly, "Alya," he nodded respectfully, if a little coolly.

Alya suspected she still hadn't been forgiven for the cupboard incident and merely rolled her eyes back in reply. It was too early in the morning to deal with such petty drama when she already had (and still had to) deal with Marinette's over the top swooning and blushing for Adrien Agreste.

"H-h-h-hi Adrien!" Marinette stammered out with a slight squeak. "You look nice! Erm, no, I meant, ah, you today nice, gah! _No!_ It's a nice day today!" she babbled incoherently as Alya face palmed loudly. She had sworn that they had finally managed to get Marinette past this stage the fact she was backsliding was not a good sight. "Yeah!" Marinette nodded and smiled awkwardly. "It's a nice day today, isn't it?"

Adrien, either being too nice or just as extra thick as Marinette – and considering his obliviousness in the last few weeks, Alya was more inclined to the latter one – merely smiled sweetly in reply. "It certainly is," he agreed, "I wanted to thank you," he added as he stepped closer to Marinette and placed a hand on her shoulder, "for being such a good friend." He squeezed Marinette's shoulder tightly and Alya's eyes narrowed as she counted the many, many, _many_ seconds as he kept a tight grip on her best friend's shoulder. "I had a great time with you on Saturday and I only wish that we could have finished the film together."

"N-n-n-no pr-pr-problem!" Marinette stuttered. "A-a-a-and, if you'd like to, and you're free to I mean, maybe we could, erm, ah, go and see a-"

" _Agreste_!" A voice barked behind them.

It happened so quickly. One minute Adrien had his hand on Marinette's shoulder as a friendly squeeze lengthened into some serious personal boundaries being crossed territory and he leaned in closer and closer intently listening to Marinette about to ask him on a date...

….and then the next he immediately pulled his hand from Marinette as if she was on fire while his own face turned bright pink and a disturbing dreamy glaze entered his eyes.

"Kagami!" He squeaked out. " _What are you doing here?_!"

Kagami, Alya observed, was fabulously gorgeous.

Or rather, she would be fabulously gorgeous if she had actually smiled and was a little less... _sharp._ The girl had the clearest, perfect, pale skin that Alya had ever seen (and she was friends with _Marinette!_ ) with well-defined, flawless, features and a tight scarlet bodysuit that fitted her like a glove. It was as if Ladybug had cut her hair, got rid off the black spots, and thrown the mask away.

She was glorious.

And yet, there was something _too_ sharp and edgy about her. She was all sharp edges, her breasts looked like triangular weapons, the ends of her hair looked pointed and sharpened to be a matching pair of blades in their own right, and her eyes were empty, narrowed, and cold.

She lacked a warmth and softness that Adrien so desperately needed in his life.

A warmth and softness that _Marinette_ had by the bucket load.

But Marinette might as well be invisible to Adrien now as his eyes were firmly planted on Kagami's face as he seemed to be attempting to make some sort of soulful connection with the girl.

And failing utterly as Kagami had turned to grace Marinette with a small twitch of the lips that could almost be mistaken for a smile and therefore missedAdrien's gaze completely.

"We were going to meet earlier for an extra practice, remember?" Kagami said stiffly. "So stop canoodling with your friend," there was an almost human-like humour that laced Kagami's voice at that as her empty eyes almost lit up in amusement, "and get a move on or we'll never win the championships."

"Yes Ma'am!"

With one last nod in Marinette's direction, Kagami walked away with a confident graceful stride that belonged on the catwalk while the _actual fashion model_ clumsily marched behind her like a wind-up toy soldier.

It would be hilarious if it wasn't so heartbreaking.

Especially as Marinette's face completely crumpled as soon as Adrien was out of sight. "You see, Alya," Marinette murmured as she struggled to maintain composure, "just the weirdo with a towel turban on her head. I don't even register to him _as a person_ let alone a potential love interest."

" _Puh_ -lease Girl!" Alya drawled out as she looped her arm through Marinette's. "That android masquerading as a human being? She has _nothing_ on you. Adrien will realise that soon and will come grovelling for your company again, you just wait and see."

Marinette laughed weakly as she rested her head on Alya's shoulder. "Yeah," she mumbled unconvincingly, "we'll see."

Alya decided right there and then a reconnaissance mission to scope out this new enemy to her ship was required right away and she knew just the person to help her...

"Why am I here?" Alix complained. "I only just got out of detention and being grounded I really don't want to add _prison_ to that list when I just got my freedom back."

Alya regretted asking Alix to help her on her reconnaissance mission almost immediately as it had begun. It had only been five minutes and already Alix had complained literally non-stop since it had started.

It was almost as bad as being stuck in a car with her little twin sisters.

If Alix started to ask to go to the bathroom over and over again Alya may well and truly snap.

"Oh stop complaining!" Alya rolled her eyes. "We're not going to go to prison."

"Erm, _yeah we are_!" Alix looked at Alya as if she was a moron of Adrien and Marinette's level. "We're _stalking_ some girl. That's definitely a crime, I've checked."

"So is messing with the stop signs and wasting police time," Alya pointed out, "and we didn't get arrested then."

"Only because by some miracle we didn't get caught," Alix snorted, "you and I both know that if Sabrina's Dad realised we were messing with him we would have been escorted home in chains. _Chains_ , Alya!"

Alya rolled her eyes.

Whoever said Marinette was the only melodramatic one in their group of friends was clearly lying because currently Alya was convinced she was the only level-headed, sensible, one in the group that-

" **There she is**!" Alya hissed. "Girl in the scarlet suit!"

"Yeah I know," Alix grumbled, "she's not hard to miss in this sea of white."

They were currently huddled beneath the bleachers of the school gym as Adrien's fencing class commenced before their very eyes. It was ridiculously tedious and boring as majority of the class were only edging towards one another and tapping the other's shoulders. Only Adrien and Kagami were spectacularly amazing and worth watching, but a whole hour of it?

Yawn.

" _Urgh_!" Alix groaned. "Are you sure this Kagami chick is a threat? They might just be friends, I'm seeing absolutely nothing to suggest otherwise."

Alya suspected that Alix wouldn't see romantic feelings if it walked right up to her and bit her in the nose. " _Yes!_ " she hissed through gritted teeth. "You didn't see the way Adrien looked at her earlier. It was _Chat Noir_ level of devotion."

"Oh _yuck_!" Alix wrinkled her nose. "That sap! And for _her_?" Alix nodded in Kagami's direction. The Japanese girl had now taken off her face guard to sip some water. Her face expressionless and her every move as graceful and lethal as it had been during her duel with Adrien. "She's an _Ice Queen_ , Adrien will never get what he wants from her. It'll be like trying to please his father all over again."

"I know," Alya bemoaned, "that's why we're observing the enemy so we can figure out how to nip this in the bud quick and get Adrien back on track with Marinette."

Alix stared at Alya as if she was mental which, Alya thought as she bristled, was highly insulting. "Have you ever thought that maybe if you left Adrien to it, he'll eventually get there in his own pace and his and Marinette's relationship would be all that much stronger and the better for it?" Alix asked lightly.

"I have no doubt whether or not we intervene that Adrien and Marinette will eventually end up together," Alya replied snottily, indignant that Alix felt the need to ask _that_! "But that doesn't mean they don't need a good nudge here and there to get there quicker. He's thick as two planks of wood and she's a stammering self-sabotaging wreck. If I left them to their own devices they'll be in their _fifties_ before they go on their first date."

"Right," Alix snorted.

Alya would have gone on to say something more inspiring while reminding Alix of her vow to do whatever it took to get Adrien and Marinette together but the fencing practice ( _thank God_!) was finally over and Kagami was on the move.

"There she goes!" Alya whispered frantically. "After her! _Quick, quick, quick_!"

"All right, all right!" Alix snapped irritably. "I'm moving _dammit_!"

They rushed past a huddle of white-suited swordsmen and swordswomen (crouched down especially to avoid Adrien's gaze so they wouldn't get caught and lectured, again) and ran after Kagami who, while moving in a comfortable pace, apparently moved as quickly as a jaguar. Unfortunately their mad dash to keep up could be heard as their feet clattered noisily against the floor and they had to immediately dive behind some lockers when Kagami turned to investigate.

They then had to duck behind the stone lions on the entrance of the school when Kagami whirled round last minute and they hadn't managed to last two minutes following Kagami down the street without her randomly glancing over her shoulder. So far they had to hide behind two trees, several lampposts, behind a group of gossiping teens, and they were now crouched behind a bin after what felt like the millionth time.

Alya was beginning to think she and Alix may very well suck at this espionage game which was horrible because how was Alya going to be the best investigative journalist if she couldn't sleuth like a pro?

"I think she saw us!" Alix cried out. "Let's just go home before she reports us!"

"Nonsense," Alya replied back sharply, "she didn't see us. You're being paranoid!"

"She _totally_ saw us!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Did not!

"Did too!"

"Did not!

"Did too!"

"Did not!

"Did too!"

"Did not!

"Did too!"

A hand suddenly reached out and gripped Alya's shoulder tightly. "Excuse me," a polite but cool voice said above her, "but I definitely did see you."

Alya and Alix both let out startled shrieks as Alya jumped away from the icy touch of death (well, rather, the icy touch of being grounded for an eternity) and simultaneously whirled round, crashed into Alix, and fell from her crouched position to flat out on her backside on the ground.

It was a clumsy mess worthy of Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

Kagami, however, merely raised an unimpressed eyebrow up at the pair of them. Her lips were pressed firmly together to the point they had almost vanished in disapproval while her arms crossed over her chest sternly and her amber eyes had a flat, impenetrable, stare to them.

"Who are you exactly?" Kagami asked calmly. "And could you explain exactly _why_ are you following me?"

Alya and Alix gulped.

"Well, you see," Alya said sheepishly, "it's kinda like this..."

MLBMLBMLBMLBMLBMLB

"Ladies!" Alya grinned manically. "I would like to introduce you to a new member of our team Kagami Tsurugi aka Agent Cherry Blossom."

This was, without a doubt, the weirdest afternoon in Kagami's life. And yes, it was even weirder than the time she was Akumatised because nowadays Akumatisation was to be expected. A mad group of girls bent on making their friend the happiest girl in Paris was _not_ expected.

Which is a little sad when you think about it.

When Kagami first realised she was being stalked again, she had instantly stiffened and was all prepared to use her sword if it meant ridding herself of such a nuisance. It hadn't been the first time a group of Adrien Agreste fangirls had followed her about in hopes of intimidating her (it was like none of them ever bothered to do their research. Kagami was never intimidated especially by a gaggle of _pathetic little girls_ ) and it certainly wasn't going to be the last time either.

She had not expected the utter insanity that spewed out of Alya's lips when she confronted the red-headed girl. It was a mad ramble of convoluted plans and incorrect conclusions based on the smallest of observations. And she hadn't paused for single breath during the entire thing.

It was mildly unnerving and rather impressive.

When Alya stopped in order to catch her breath Kagami merely blinked in bewilderment at her.

"I don't understand," she had said flatly, "I thought Adrien and Marinette were already dating."

Alya and Alix looked utterly delighted at that and when they explained that no Adrien and Marinette were _not_ together, and that _Marinette was too nervous to tell Adrien how she felt_ , and _Adrien was too thick to realise that Marinette had crush about the size of the galaxy on him,_ and all the troubles Alya, Alix, and their friends had to try and get t _hese two idiots together_ , Kagami found herself more and more drawn in.

She couldn't believe the outrageous behaviour that had gone on and that Adrien, who was highly intelligent according the reports her mother unearthed during the background check, was so _unbelievably oblivious_ to it.

These girls clearly need help.

And if Adrien finally actually dated Marinette then maybe he'll stop waxing lyrical poetry when he was supposed be concentrating on their match.

And Kagami could get a real challenge for once.

"You know," Kagami said without thinking, "I can help you, I do have an in with Adrien as his sparring partner."

And that was how she found herself bundled into Alya's bedroom while a small, chubby, blonde girl with big brown eyes, a silent goth, and a bubbly blonde with equally big blue eyes, all stare at her dumbstruck.

Kagami wrinkled her nose. "Agent _Cherry Blossom_?" She repeated.

"Your code name," Alya explained exasperatedly, "remember? I'm Agent Tiger Lily and Alix is Agent Violet, and this is Mylene Haprele aka Agent Sunflower," the blonde chubby girl smiled shyly and gave a little wave, "and this here is Juleka Couffaine aka Agent Rose."

"S'up?" Juleka mumbled.

"And last but not least Rose Lavillant aka Agent Tulip," Alya finished.

"Hi!" Rose waved madly as she beamed brightly. "It's so nice to meet you!"

Kagami smiled back. "It's nice to meet you all too," she said politely, "but I don't understand," Kagami frowned, "why is Juleka Agent Rose instead of Rose? Wouldn't that just cause a lot of confusion."

"THANK YOU!" Alix burst out as she shot a pointed look at Alya. "See I told you that the code names were ridiculous especially Juleka's and that's part of the reason why the first plan failed."

Alya glared fiercely at that. "Oh just _leave it alone_!" Alya snapped irritably. "It's not like we use them that much anyway since you complain about it _all the time_."

"If you don't use them," Kagami said amused, "then why insist on them?"

"Because it's _fun!_ " Alya cried out. "It's like we're really undercover!"

The others girls all chimed in with their agreement even Alix – though she was reluctant and begrudging – and they all laughed as the reminisced about the first time and the muddle up with their code names. It was a bizarre tale that included stop signs, tormenting Adrien's bodyguard, a rickshaw, and a _giant Akumatised baby_ of all things.

It took all of Kagami's self-control and restraint to not laugh right there and then. It was the most absurd and whimsical thing she had ever heard, and she so _desperately_ wanted to be part of it. The girls all sat close together and nudged each other with their feet or their elbows as they shared smiles and snickered between them.

Kagami had been so _alone_ for all of her life.

She has had no company apart from tutors and serving staff, and on the odd occasion her mother, and she has never had a chance to be a _child._ She had to be immaculate and mature at all times. And she so desperately wanted to cut loose and spend time with people her own age and have _fun_.

She wanted to be part of a group of friends like this.

Kind, fun, and caring people who can tease each other and help each other all at once.

Which was probably why she had offered to help Alya and Alix as soon as Alya finished explaining why they had been following her.

She wanted to be a good friend to Adrien too.

He had been kind to her in those first few weeks. The whole class – teacher included – had looked down at her for acting as if she was superior to them. They resented her talent and skill, and her lack of social skills hadn't endeared her to them either.

But Adrien always greeted her with a smile, and he always asked about her day and listened to her, and he always told her everything about his day.

Especially every little detail of what Marinette Dupain-Cheng had said or done that day.

He spoke of Marinette like a besotted fool head over heels.

And Kagami had seen the adoring way Marinette gazed after Adrien.

It was why it surprised her so much when Alya revealed that Adrien and Marinette were _not_ a couple.

"Are we the only ones that get code names?" Kagami asked dryly. "Or do Adrien and Marinette have one too?"

"Adrien is the Golden Button," Alix informed her with an eye roll, "and Marinette is Lotus, and we call all this madness _Operation Golden Lotus_ , you know, their _shipping_ name."

Kagami nodded at least she wasn't the only girl with Asian decent lumped in with an Asian flower codename. She could definitely live with that.

"Speaking of Operation Golden Lotus," Alya clapped her hands, "we should get back to business. As I said Kagami is our new operative on the mission and the best part of it all is that she's going to be our woman on the inside."

" _Ooh_!" Rose squealed. "What does that mean?"

"Well," Kagami smiled indulgently, "as I spar with Adrien on a near daily basis I get a bit of an insight to Adrien Agreste."

" _And_?" Alya encouraged her shamelessly.

" _And,_ " Kagami's smile widened into a smirk, "all Adrien ever talks about is how _nice,_ and _sweet_ , and _cute_ , and _clever_ , and _creative_ Marinette Dupain-Cheng is."

There was a brief moment of silence and then -

" **AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!** "

Alix immediately clasped her hands over her ears while Juleka looked a shade amused as Kagami jumped out of her skin. Rose, Alya, and Mylene were all shrieking like hysterical fangirls that tend to follow Adrien around as they clutched each other's hands and jumped up and down in a celebratory circle.

"Is it like this all the time?" Kagami asked.

" _All the time!_ " Alix moaned. "My eardrums are never going to be the same again."

It was hard to not grin at that.

Kagami wanted to be able to act just as excitable about silly things like this too.

It looked fun.

Eventually Alya, Rose, and Mylene all calmed down and as soon as everyone sat back down and were ready to listen again, Alya took command of the room once more. "So here's the plan," she said excitably, "since none of us can afford to get into trouble again after the last few weeks of detention and grounding, we're going back to being subtle."

"Do you really think _subtle_ is going to work?" Alix asked sceptically. "Because being _really painfully obvious_ hadn't really worked out all that well either. They're both really gullible and stupid."

"Adrien is a clever boy when he wants to be," Alya said loftily, "and I think Operation Subliminal Lotus will help plant the idea of Marinette as his girlfriend in his head."

"That way he'll think it's his own idea!" Rose squealed giddily. "And he can be the one the sweep Marinette off her feet like the knight in shining armour we always knew he was!"

"Marinette would be so happy!" Mylene cried out.

"Totally," Juleka muttered.

" _But!_ " Rose's big blue eyes widened. "How are we going to do it? Adrien really doesn't spend that much time with any of us and it's been hard to get a friendly word with him after the cupboard incident."

"That's where I come in," Kagami said swiftly, "I have an in with Adrien where I could beat the idea of asking Marinette out into his head repeatedly with a sword if I have to."

Rose looked scandalised at the thought as did Mylene but Alya grinned wickedly and Juleka's eyes lit up with amusement while Alix threw her head back and laughed.

"Oh I like that!" Alix said gleefully. "Let's do that!"

Kagami simply couldn't wait.

MLBMLBMLBMLBMLBMLB

There was something weird going on with Kagami.

Adrien just simply couldn't put his finger on it but he could tell something was off. Kagami seemed more relaxed and light-hearted than she had been before, she smiled a little more frequently, and she didn't shut his conversations down like she used - _not that there was anything wrong with that!_

It was just _odd._

And Adrien couldn't shake the feeling that there was something else going on.

He didn't know why but there was something about the way Kagami smiled and encouraged him to talk about Marinette and how she would swat him over the head ( _a totally illegal move by the way!_ ) with her sword every time he uttered the words _Marinette is just a friend_ or _Marinette is a very good friend_ felt very... _off._

And then during one practise she looked down at him in exasperation and rolled her eyes. "You should just ask," she said impatiently, "and get it out of your system and that way you can finally focus in a match and be an actual challenge for me."

Adrien's eyes bugged out.

 _Was Kagami telling him to ask her out?!_

He liked Kagami. Like really, really, really _**liked**_ her. It was nowhere near close to how he felt for Ladybug but the similarities were so startling that Adrien couldn't help but feel a little weak in the knees for Kagami as well. Yet, it wasn't quite the same. With Ladybug he felt like he was constantly vying for heart like a true troubadour knight. With Kagami it felt a bit like trying to win his father's approval.

He wasn't sure that was a good basis for a romance.

Adrien hummed and hawed at whether or not he should ask Kagami out for two whole days (and Plagg was absolutely no help as he just sat in the background stuffing himself with cheese and handing out fun (in other words _boring_ ) facts about cheese) before he decided he might as well give it a try.

Kagami was nice once you got past her hard exterior.

And they had a fair amount in common, so Adrien was sure they could be compatible with one another as well.

Not all romances had to be the scorching hot passion he felt for Ladybug. It could be good for him to try having a connection with someone else.

It was after Friday evening's practise when Adrien finally managed to screw up enough courage to ask. He took a sip of water to ease the dryness of his throat and opened his mouth to -

"Hello Adrien Agreste!"

Adrien had all but jumped out of his skin as he whipped round to see Wayhem walk towards him while waving in an over-enthusiastic manner.

 _Crap!_

He had forgotten he was going to hang out with Wayhem tonight.

Since their first proper meeting Adrien has done his best to be an actual friend to Wayhem. He had, after all, _endangered_ Wayhem's life when he had asked the civilian to pretend to be him so he could sneak away to transform. He owed Wayhem time to get to know one another which was all the boy had wanted to begin with.

They hadn't had much time to actually hang out but so far between chatting online while playing games and the odd conversation in person between Adrien's photo shoots and being shuffled into the limo for class, had allowed Adrien to get to know and like the cheerful and eager boy.

Adrien was a little envious of Wayhem.

He wished he could be as carefree and outgoing as Wayhem.

He also wished that Wayhem would stop referring him as _Adrien Agreste_ instead of just Adrien.

It made Adrien feel like he was being put on a pedestal a bit.

" _Wayhem_!" Adrien croaked. "Hey."

Wayhem stopped to a stand still as his usually warm brown eyes narrowed into suspicious slits onto Kagami's indifferent face.

"Kagami this is my friend Wayhem," Adrien said quickly, "Wayhem this is my sparring partner Kagami."

He then hastily took another sip of water.

Wayhem still looked upon Kagami with suspicion as he took her hand and gave it a hasty shake. "You know that Adrien Agreste already has a girlfriend, right?" Wayhem said loudly.

It took all of Adrien's PR training to not spit out his drink.

He did, however, choke on it.

"I know," Kagami replied dryly, "her name is Marinette."

This time Adrien choked on his spit.

Wayhem instantly relaxed as his face lit up with utter delight. " _Good!_ " he said satisfied. "Sorry about that," he smiled sheepishly, "but Adrien Agreste has so many fangirls after his good looks, wealth, and fame that they would do anything to ruin his relationship."

" _Wayhem_!" Adrien cried out. "I told you before – _repeatedly!_ \- that Marinette and I are just good friends."

Kagami, for some reason, rolled her eyes at Wayhem who grinned back.

Adrien couldn't help but feel like he was being humoured at this point.

"Don't worry Adrien Agreste!" Wayhem said loudly. "I already know that your cold-hearted father has forbidden your romance because male models do more successfully if they are thought to be single. Your secret relationship with the lovely Marinette Dupain-Cheng is safe with me!"

Adrien wanted to curl up on the floor and die from the embarrassment.

"And I would also protect your secret," Kagami informed Adrien, "You and Marinette are so sickeningly adorable together I would hate to see you two torn apart by an oppressive parent."

And right there and then Adrien knew any hope for any romantic relationship with Kagami was dead and buried.

He wished he knew why so many people were convinced he and Marinette were a thing.

He was sure he had said that _they were just friends!_

 _Constantly!_

"I was watching you and Adrien Agreste earlier," Wayhem said, "and I must say your sword skills are very impressive. I shall have to be _en garde_ around you."

Wayhem then shot Kagami a wink worthy of Chat Noir and Adrien inhaled sharply. Kagami was so much like Ladybug that he had no doubt that this pun would flop brutally and poor Wayhem will get dismissed as swiftly as Chat Noir had been many, many, times before.

Instead though Kagami ducked her head down and giggled.

 _She giggled!_

Adrien felt like he had been hit on the head by a flock of flying pigs as Kagami's pale cheeks turned a faint pink and the smallest, sweetest, smiles appeared on her lips.

Wayhem looked utterly entranced by it.

"Would you like to join me for an ice cream cone?!" Wayhem suddenly blurted out. "Err," he looked a little sheepish, "I mean it would be a great honour if you were to grace me with your presence for an evening," he took her hand and pressed a light kiss on her gloved knuckle, "My Lady."

Adrien wanted to warn him.

He so desperately wanted to tell Wayhem that sort of flirting never works on girls like Kagami and Ladybug. That Kagami is going to say no without a second of hesitation. That it would all be in vain and Wayhem will be shot down before he could finish asking a second time.

Kagami, however, smiled radiantly in a way she had never smiled at Adrien.

"I would like that," she said shyly, "I would like that very much."

Adrien's jaw dropped open at that.

"Would you like to go now?!"

"Yes," Kagami nodded eagerly, "I have some time before my scheduled homework session."

"But...but...but..." Adrien spluttered indignantly. " _What about me_?!"

"Sorry Adrien Agreste," Wayhem smiled sheepishly, "rain-check?"

Adrien didn't really have a chance to answer before Wayhem performed an exaggerated courtly bow and offered his hand to Kagami which she accepted with all the grace and dignity of a Queen, and the two of them walked out whispering and giggling amongst themselves as they left Adrien in the metaphorical dust.

" _What the hell just happened?!_ "


	6. Chapter 5: Operation Turn GB Green

**Operation Turn Golden Button Green**

"Kagami you were supposed to guide Adrien into asking Marinette out!" Alya cried out exasperatedly. "Not _get your own boyfriend!_ "

It was bright and early on Saturday morning and all the girls were huddled up in Juleka's bedroom. Kagami was all but crushed into the wall as she shared the small narrow bed with Juleka, Rose, and Mylene while Alya commandeered the desk like the military leader she believed herself to be, and Alix was sprawled out all over their feet on the floor. It was cramped, uncomfortable, and Juleka apparently uses lavender scented shampoo because that was all Kagami could smell as the shorter girl's ebony locks brushed against her cheek.

It was still one of the best Saturday mornings Kagami ever had.

She desperately hoped that there'll be a cliched girly sleepover in her future because she felt that she had finally found a group of friends where she can be that ordinary teenage girl instead of the ice sculpture of perfection that her mother expects her to be.

"It cannot be helped," Kagami shrugged indifferently, "I'm not as clueless as Adrien, I know when I'm being flirted with and I know myself well enough to know I like it and flirt back."

" _Ha_!" Alix cackled. "Good point. So what's your boyfriend like?"

"Cheerful," Kagami smiled softly as she pulled up a picture of Wayhem on her phone, "and enthusiastic about everything, he is warm, and kind, and the sweetest guy I have ever met. He is charming, gorgeous, and passionate. It's very easy to get swept up by him."

" _Ooh_!" Rose cooed as she leaned over Juleka to get a good look at Wayhem's photo. "He does look dreamy! I could just _drown_ in those eyes!"

"He's a catch," Juleka agreed in a mumble.

Though she didn't look so pleased that Rose thought so too.

"He looks lovely Kagami!" Mylene said enthusiastically. "I hope you two are very happy together like Ivan and I are!"

"He's cute I suppose," Alix shrugged, "but if he breaks your heart he won't be any longer. I promise you that."

Kagami flushed with pleasure at that.

She's never had friends who insist on protecting her before while eagerly engaging with the art of gossiping with her.

It was all so very _nice_.

Kagami's life was really looking up since she arrived in Paris which she didn't think was possible when her mother first announced the relocation. She had thought being in a strange place that spoke a different language (no matter how fluently she could speak it), had different attitudes, strange food, and strange customs would be the most miserable time of her life. Especially since she had never known anything other than her strict, private, life in a compound that she had rarely left.

Paris has been the refreshing breath of air that Kagami's life had so desperately needed.

Alya, however, merely crossed her arms irritably. Her annoyance that they were drifting from their mission to get Adrien and Marinette together was clearly etched into her face.

Kagami offered an apologetic smile. "Would it help if I told you that Wayhem is a huge fan of Adrien and ships him with Marinette?" she offered. "He draws fan art and everything."

Alya's mouth dropped open at that.

As did everyone else's as they all looked thunderstruck at the mere concept.

"There's _fan art_ for Adrien and Marinette?!" Alix cried out disbelievingly. " _Holy shit!_ Since _when_?!"

"A good year ago I believe," Kagami said thoughtfully, "Wayhem said a few people have been shipping Adrien and Marinette after she won some sort of hat competition? Especially since not long after that there was a clip of them standing close to one another at some food competition and someone caught a picture of them together at a Jagged Stone concert around the same time."

There was a beat of silence and then -

" **AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!** "

Kagami almost jumped out of her skin as not only Alya, Rose, and Mylene screamed in shrill excitement but Alix and Juleka as well. They all accompanied this by stomping their feet and smacking their hands against their knees. Their giddy excitement and disbelief clear for those back home in Japan to hear.

" _Everyone ships Golden Lotus_!" Alya said in a sing-song voice. "Oh, I can't wait to rub this in Chloe's face!"

Kagami blinked bewilderedly.

She wasn't sure what this Chloe had to do with this but it wasn't exactly the first time she heard that venomous tone in relation to that name.

She had a feeling that a victory in securing Adrien and Marinette's relationship was something to be rubbed into this Chloe's face with relish.

Her mother would say that she was above such petty actions.

Kagami would have to disagree because it sounded like something she could enjoy if this Chloe was as bad as she sounded.

"Would you like to see some of Wayhem's work?" Kagami asked.

"YES!"

There was a long, never-ending, period of time as Kagami's phone got passed forwards and backwards between the girls as they admired Wayhem's artwork. He had made many, many, many manga styled drawings of big, dewy-eyed, Adrien and Marinette's doing the most utterly cutesy things you can imagine. They held hands in the snow, they shared a stick of cotton candy in the sparkling lights of a carnival, they held hands as they laid on the grass on warm, spring, day...

Alix said it was sickening and weird, Rose and Mylene loudly argued it was adorable, Juleka thought the art was good but the concept of fan art of her own friends was strange, and Alya just looked plain smug.

"No offence, Kagami," Alix grinned, "but your boyfriend is a _freaking weirdo_."

Kagami would have defended her boyfriend to the death but Wayhem had chosen that exact moment to post a picture he drew of her recently and Kagami hastily hid her phone away before the girls could see it.

She was not prepared for the tradition of friends teasing one another just yet.

"It's nice and all that other people agree with us," Alix said as she slumped back onto the floor, "but we're still _absolutely sodding nowhere_ near achieving our goal."

"It is a long and arduous journey," Kagami agreed, "Subliminal Lotus isn't going too well, no matter how hard I hit him over the head with my sword Adrien still refers Marinette as to _just a friend_."

The girls all groaned and rolled their eyes.

"We need to give him a wake-up call," Rose said determinedly, "some guys just don't realise what they have until it's gone."

"You're not suggesting we should stash Marinette somewhere Adrien can't see her, are you?" Alix raised an eyebrow. "Because _kidnapping_ is still illegal the last time I checked and we only just got back into the Dupain-Chengs' good books after the cupboard incident."

"Hiding Marinette isn't the same as her being out of Adrien's reach," Mylene said catching on to what Rose meant immediately, "Adrien would have to think any chance of romance with her is lost forever to spur him into action."

" _Operation Turn Golden Button Green!_ " Alya announced triumphantly.

Alix immediately groaned while the others looked eager and excited. Kagami couldn't help but be intrigued to where this was going.

"He needs to be jealous," Juleka translated quietly.

"It probably would be the bucket of icy water he needs," Alya said slowly as a plan clearly formulated itself in her mind, "but the question is _how_ do we get him jealous? How do we engineer a situation where someone flirts with Marinette in front of him...?"

"I think the first question ought to be _who_ would help make him jealous?" Alix corrected. "Aside from the fact that I don't think the sweet, self-righteous, sunshine child has it in him to be jealous. It would have to take an ultra-confident, drop-dead gorgeous, extra clever and talented guy to make Adrien even feel _a hint_ of inadequacy in comparison."

"Ivan and Nino are out for obvious reasons," Mylene said, "and as clever as Max is, I don't think he's interested enough to make the effort to fake flirt with Marinette."

"Nor would he be enough to cause genuine worry for Adrien," Alix pointed out curtly, "Max has made it clear he has no interest in anything other than his robot, video games, and science, and even Adrien knows that."

"Kim?" Alya suggested.

" _Pfft!_ " Alix snorted. "Still blatantly infatuated with Chloe. God knows _why_ since she's a heartless cow that humiliated him for all of Paris to see."

"Love is blind," Rose offered comfortingly.

"And _deaf_ and _stupid_ too apparently," Alix rolled her eyes, "and we can't ask Nathaniel to do it. He actually genuinely likes Marinette in that way and it would be too cruel to ask him."

"How about a girl?" Juleka suggested.

"That won't work at all!" Mylene exclaimed. "Adrien would just think that Marinette is that way inclined and then won't want to do anything that would cross any lines. He would want to respect her and her choice!"

That and the only girls available to do it were all in this cramped little room and mostly had boyfriends. Rose and Juleka appeared to have something going on (Kagami had observed five subtle interactions of hand squeezing, rubbing soothing circles on one's back, and exchanging loving gazes within the last fifteen minutes alone) between themselves, and Alix probably couldn't do it without laughing in poor Marinette's face.

"Is there anyone else?" Kagami asked curiously. "Do any of you know any other boys that could help?"

"Well..." Alya bit her lip nervously as she glanced at Juleka, "there is one boy..."

Everyone whipped round to stare at Alya. " _Who?!_ " Alix demanded on the behalf of everyone else.

"Well, you see, last week during the music festival Marinette got a little... _smitten_ with, well...Luka..."

Juleka looked absolutely revolted at that. " _Gross!_ " she muttered as she shuddered in disgust.

Rose immediately reached out and gave her a comforting hand squeeze which caused the pale, dark-haired, girl to smile a little.

"Luka?" Alix tilted her head. "Well he is drop-dead gorgeous."

"And sweet, and ultra-confident and talented," Mylene ticked off his qualities with her fingers, "and is super nice and kind, and so effortlessly cool."

"Not to mention," Alya grinned, "that Marinette turns into a puddle of goo whenever he glances her way. So her reaction to his fake flirting would be so realistic that it would convince Adrien."

" _Ew_!" Juleka wrinkled her nose.

"Would Luka do it?" Kagami turned to ask Juleka "Pretend to flirt with Marinette in front of Adrien?"

Juleka didn't get the chance to answer as the parting screen between her 'room' and Luka's 'room' slid back a little and the boy in question – in his glorious punk rock gorgeousness – peered his head round and smiled devastatingly at them all. "I'll help," he offered sweetly, "Marinette is awesome and has helped Juleka so many times that I would do anything to help her back in return."

Juleka's cheeks turned a faint tinge of pink as she looked irritable and embarrassed all at once. " _Urgh_!" she groaned. "What are you doing eavesdropping on a _private_ conversation?!" she muttered crossly. "This is girl time. You're supposed to have your headphones on."

Kagami was mildly surprised.

It was the most she had heard Juleka ever say and it was expressed with the most emotion and almost in the loudest voice she had ever heard Juleka use as well.

Luka, however, merely smiled indulgently down at his little sister. "I heard someone say my name between songs," he explained, "I think it's only right I know what's being said about me."

" _Get out_!"

"Let me know when you want my help," Luka said to Alya, "and what you need me to do. I'd love to see Marinette happy, she totally deserves it."

" _Out_!" Juleka barked.

Luka smiled one last time at the room as a whole before he ducked back into his side and shut the parting screen just in time for Juleka's pillow to bounce off of it and land limply on the floor besides Alix.

" _Urgh_!" Juleka huffed. "Big brothers!"

The room filled with girls who were either the only child or had many sisters stared at Juleka in blank bewilderment (they would all love to have a big brother as sweet and caring as Luka). Only Alix nodded in understanding.

"I know," she said soothingly, "they're just the _worst_."

MLBMLBMLBMLBMLBMLB

Adrien gritted his teeth.

He liked Luka Couffaine.

He really did.

The guy was so nice and friendly and they had a brilliant time together when they jammed on the Couffaine boat.

And yet, for some strange, baffling, reason, Adrien would like nothing more than to punch Luka's perfect teeth out of his stupid, princely, smile. He didn't get why though because Luka's great.

He was great.

Really, he _was._

So great.

 _And clearly_ , Adrien thought as he ground his teeth to dust, _Marinette thinks so too._

He didn't know why it bothered him so much.

It really shouldn't.

He should be pleased that his friends liked each other. It would be really awkward otherwise if he ever wanted to hang out with both them and they couldn't stand each other. This was supposed to be a good thing.

It was just...

Well he didn't like the fact that Luka could get Marinette so relaxed and at ease when he still struggled to get her to talk without a stutter for two whole sentences. And there was something so weirdly intimate about how close to Marinette Luka actually stood. A very slim hamster couldn't squeeze through the gap between them. And not to mention that Marinette's cheeks were permanently stained with the loveliest dusky shade of rose pink Adrien had ever seen.

It just really, really, bothered him, _okay?!_

Adrien was currently supposed to be in the middle of a photo shoot which was, for reasons he could never understand, once again in the local park near Marinette's bakery. Adrien had high hopes he would catch a glimpse of his very good friend and maybe even slip away to chat with her during one of this breaks. While he clearly got the former, he had no luck on the latter...

Marinette had been sitting on a bench not so far from the shoot frowning at her phone in her hands when Adrien had first arrived at the shoot. She had looked so upset and hurt that he had wanted to rush over to her and give her a hug and ask her what was wrong. Instead he was hustled into make-up and then Luka appeared out of thin air.

As Adrien was forced into all sort of positions and had orders barked at him by his father's favourite diva of a photographer (seriously _what was with the spaghetti thing?!_ How is that supposed to be _inspiring?_ Someone please _explain_ this to Adrien!), Luka and Marinette talked and talked and talked and talked.

And _good heavens_ they talked some more!

Adrien couldn't hear a single word that was being said but if he strained his hearing enough he could occasionally catch the sweet chiming sound of Marinette's giggles. It felt like he was being stabbed right in the heart that some other guy could get Marinette to laugh so freely and so easily when Adrien was lucky to win a smile from her.

This clearly showed on his face because his photographer screamed about his frown and demanded another dozen or so more photos before Adrien could get it right.

And even then the photographer still wasn't satisfied.

 _Urgh_.

Eventually Marinette stood up as if she was about to leave and that was when Luka suddenly stood up to and stepped closer to her. He leaned down to ask her something serious judging by his facial expression and Marinette's dusky pink cheeks turned red as she nodded eagerly.

"Adrien," Nathalie called out calmly, "the photo shoot is finished now you can change back and then you have a Chinese lesson in an hour."

"Right," Adrien shook his head, "erm," he said a little anxiously, "my friends are over there, can I quickly go over and say hi?"

Nathalie glanced at him briefly over her clipboard. "Five minutes," she said briskly before she returned her attention to whatever was on her clipboard.

Adrien all but ran towards Luka and Marinette, he lifted up a hand to wave at them, and opened his mouth to call o-

Luka suddenly leaned down and pressed a kiss on Marinette's cheek.

And not just a light brush on either cheek to say goodbye like any normal French person. _Oh no!_ It was a firm, lingering, peck that practically touched the corners of her lip. It looked intimate and romantic and full of all sort of promises and intentions.

Adrien immediately stopped to a halt.

His breath caught painfully in his throat and it felt like his stomach had dropped out and splattered all over the ground as he felt bewilderedly out of place and angry and hurt and irritated all at once. His head pounded furiously from the dizzy swing of emotions that whirled round and round in his head and his heart ached something painful.

He hadn't had a chance to comprehend what was going on when there was a loud gasp behind him.

He turned round to see a pretty brunette with aquamarine eyes outline with thick, heavy, black eye make up stare at Marinette and Luka with a horrified, hurt, expression. She looked around Luka's age and was dressed in a black leather jacket like Luka and multiple other layers of black, black denim, and black fishnet coupled with a pair of high tops.

Luke and Marinette had apparently heard the gasp too as they turned to see the girl and immediately Luka's eyes widened with surprise. " _Maddy_!" he exclaimed.

"You..." Maddy whispered, "...You...You..."

Luka surprise evaporated into a guilt-stricken expression as realisation quickly sunk in. "Oh Maddy no," he said quietly and quickly, "it's not what it looks like. I can explain! This is Marinette and-"

Maddy let out a ragged, heartbreaking, sob at that. " _Marinette_!" she repeated furiously. "The girl you can _**never**_ stop talking about! I should have known!" Luka hastily stepped towards Maddy with a hand stretched out towards her but she immediately slapped it away. " _Get away from me_!" she shrieked as tears sprung down her cheeks. "You low-life, sneaky, cheating _son of a bitch_!"

And before Luka could utter another word, Maddy whipped round and ran straight towards the gates of the park.

"MADDY!" Luka rushed after her. "WAIT! PLEASE WAIT! I CAN EXPLAIN! IT'S NOT WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE!

He didn't even bother to give Marinette a second glance as he desperately chased his girlfriend out of the park.

Adrien's blood boiled with fury at that.

He had thought Luka was a nice guy and instead it turned out that Luka was some _sleazy two-timing jerk_! And he had tried to use _Marinette_ to satisfy his insatiable lust! _The sheer nerve of it all!_ Poor Marinette looked so heartbroken as she gazed anxiously past Adrien to where Maddy and Luka had run off to out of sight.

Adrien had to comfort her.

He had to reassure her it wasn't her fault.

She wasn't to blame for Luka's disgusting actions.

Without hesitation Adrien reached out and took hold of Marinette's hands. They were so small and dainty and felt cool to his touch as he squeezed them carefully and comfortingly as possible while poor Marinette spluttered away in disbelieve and hurt. Adrien tugged her close and lifted her hands to his lips to press respectful, sincere, kisses of fealty that a Princess like herself deserved instead of such a forcefully flirty kiss that Luka all but shoved on her before.

"I'm so sorry Marinette," Adrien said, "I can't believe Luka used you like that. You deserve so much better."

"I...you...ah...gee...err..." Marinette gabbled incoherently. She was so clearly heartbroken to the point of speechlessness and Adrien's own heart ached in sympathy for her. "I mean...see...oh...erm..."

Adrien dropped her hands and was on the verge of leaning in and giving her hug when -

 **BOOM!**

Another Akuma chose that exact and precise moment to attack the park and judging by the broken hearts scattered on the Akuma's black jumpsuit the latest victim was no other than Luka's jilted girlfriend.

And judging by exactly where her now blood red eyes were narrowed at...Marinette was her target.

MLBMLBMLBMLBMLBMLB

" _Oh no_!" Juleka whispered, horrified. " _Maddy_!"

Operation Turn Golden Button Green had been, up until the Akuma had attacked, probably their most successful operation to date. The plan to lure Marinette into the park while Adrien was having his shoot had gone off without a hitch as had Luka's heroic yet comforting entrance when Marinette realised they had all ditched her. And as Luka worked his sweet magic of being the nicest, funniest, guy around, you would have to be _blind_ to not see Adrien was steadily getting jealous by the second.

And they all had front row seats (sort of) in the bushes not too far off from everyone else.

" _Look at him_!" Alya crowed triumphantly as she spied on Adrien with her binoculars. "He's developed a twitch in his left jaw every time Marinette laughs at something Luka said!" Alya all but squirmed from sheer delight. "He's so jelly, _I can almost taste it!_ "

"His hand keeps rolling into a fist too," Mylene observed anxiously, "I hope he doesn't _punch_ Luka."

" _I do_!" Alix said bloodthirstily. "It would make things interesting. I bet Adrien's breaks his dainty fist on Luka's rugged chin."

" _Look! Look!_ " Rose bounced up and down excitedly as she clapped her hands gleefully. "Adrien's about to approach them!"

They all leaned in eager to see Adrien make a fool of himself out of jealousy before Marinette would blurt out her feelings, and the two of them would waltz off into the sunset leaving a sweet smiling, happy for them, Luka behind in the dust. Instead Adrien barely reached them when a girl in all black and the longest, polished shade of mahogany, brown hair Alya had ever seen appeared.

It was clear to all that what she saw hurt her.

"Maddy?" Kagami frowned as she turned to Juleka. "Who is Maddy?"

"Luka's girlfriend," Juleka breathed, "she's not going to like this. She's the jealous kind."

Everyone winced and grimaced at that.

This was not going to end well.

Juleka was proven right within seconds Maddy dashed out of the park in tears while Luka chased after her. Juleka cringed and crouched further down behind the bush clearly upset that she had damaged her brother's romantic relationship while Alya struggled to keep her victorious grin off of her face.

 _Adrien had just kissed Marinette's hands after all!_

But before anything could happen, before the romantic sweeping Marinette off of her feet or the flustered, babbled, incoherent awkward dialogue which would lead to a less romantic sweeping Adrien off of his feet could have happened, there was a large explosion and an Akuma appeared in the park.

"Oh no!" Juleka said louder but equally horrified as before. " _Maddy_!"

"YOU LITTLE HOMEWRECKER!"

They all let out strangled screams of horror as the Akuma threw out an explosive blast at Marinette. Thankfully, they all sighed and slumped in relief, Adrien had immediately tackled Marinette to the ground and the pair of them rolled across the grass to safety. Marinette landed safely into a sprawled out compromising position over Adrien as the pair suddenly blushed brightly at one another.

Alya would have totally taken a photo of it but she was too busy filming the new Akuma for her blog (in hopes to get Chat Noir and Ladybug's attention so they would save Marinette not for totally selfish reasons, _thank you very much!_ ).

"OH YEAH THROW YOURSELF AT _**ANOTHER GUY**_!" the Akuma screeched like a harpy as her hands glowed with the next attack. "YOU SHOULD BURN IN HELL YOU LITTLE TART!"

Adrien hastily shoved Marinette off of him and struggled to his feet. His face was a flaming crimson that could have rivalled Ladybug's suit but it didn't prevent him from glowering defiantly at the Akuma. "Marinette _run_!" he commanded. "I'll hold her off."

"Oh how romantic!" Rose swooned.

" _He's going to get himself blown to pieces_!" Kagami hissed furiously.

"Eh," Alix shrugged, "Ladybug will cure him."

Kagami spluttered crossly at that but she didn't have to worry because it would be an icy day in hell (and perhaps not even then) before Marinette would _abandon_ Adrien to a dangerous situation. Instead of just running, Marinette snatched up Adrien's hand and dragged him with her and just as the Akuma threw her next attack she pushed Adrien to safety into a clump of bushes before she ducked behind a tree herself.

The Akuma screamed at an ear-splitting level.

They all clutched their ears and groaned in agony.

Marinette bobbed and weaved through some trees avoiding several of the Akuma's attacks artfully. It looked like she might just escape when, in very typical Marinette style, she instantly tripped over a tree root and fell onto the floor.

"No one to save you now!" The Akuma gloated as she lifted her hands up. "Rest in _pieces_!"

Marinette, very inappropriately, groaned at the pun.

The Akuma had then flung her arms down and released her attack and Marinette's name was on the tip of Alya's tongue as terror and horror bubbled up with her – _it's all her fault, her best friend was going to blown to pieces because Alya engineered the situation, she had hurt Marinette again_ – when suddenly the attack was deflected by Chat Noir's baton.

Within the second Alya blinked Chat Noir suddenly threw the Akuma across the park and had scooped Marinette to safety. Alya – and the others – didn't even hesitate to dash forwards to grab Marinette and get her out of here before the Akuma got back up.

Alya was just about to shout Marinette's name when she suddenly halted to a stop and blinked rapidly at the scene before them.

It was unbelievable.

Chat Noir and Marinette stood so close to one another that not even an ant could get between them. Marinette's own arms were entwined round Chat Noir's neck while his own hands were splayed on her hips. Chat Noir ducked down slightly so his forehead almost touched Marinette's as he whispered what Alya could only assume was sweet nothing to Marinette as her cheeks steadily flushed a deeper and darker shade of pink at every word.

The worst of it all though was how Marinette looked up at Chat Noir.

It wasn't wonder and awe from being in the presence of one of Paris's Superheroes nor was it gratitude from being rescued. No, it was sheer, utter, unadulterated _adoration_ that shimmered in those big baby blue eyes. The same kind of affection that Marinette only gazed at Adrien with while her lips were parted as if they were _begging_ to be kissed and Marinette had all but _melted_ into Chat Noir's embrace.

Alya exchanged confused and betrayed glanced with the other girls. Rose looked utterly baffled, Kagami furious on Adrien's behalf, Mylene heartbroken, Juleka actually blinked and frowned, and Alix looked as if someone had suddenly hit her over the head with something heavy.

They could all see it too.

"Erm," Alix said hesitatingly, "Marinette still likes Adrien... _right?_!"


	7. Chapter 6: Operation Scaredy Cat

**Operation Scaredy Cat**

"Of course Marinette still likes Adrien!" Alya snapped defensively for, what felt like, the tenth millionth time. "Why _wouldn't_ she?!"

It was the very next day after the incident where Marinette had tangled herself up in Chat Noir's arms like a damsel in distress right out of a Mills and Boons romance. The Akuma managed to part the two of them ( _Thank God!)_ and almost as soon as Marinette had vanished into safety, Ladybug had made her appearance and cured the Akuma. Luka was able to repair his relationship with Maddy ("Although," Juleka mumbled sheepishly, "he's never to utter Marinette's name in Maddy's presence from now on.") and Chat Noir flirted and bantered with Ladybug as if he had never gazed lovingly into Marinette's eyes mere minutes before.

 _Which only served to really piss Alya off!_

How dare he make googly eyes at sweet Marinette one moment only to kiss Ladybug's hand oh so gentlemanly like the next! He should pick a girl and _stick to her!_ Preferably _Ladybug_ because Marinette was meant to be with Adrien, _so there!_

After Ladybug and Chat Noir dashed off into the sunset like the heroes they are, Marinette and Adrien stumbled back into the park a little bedraggled and utterly relieved to see one another safe and sound. Adrien had all but broke Marinette's ribs with that bear hug of his and Marinette literally turned into a babbling hot mess the entire time Adrien walked her home.

(Alya should know she followed them every step with the others – bar Juleka and Rose who had gone to help Luka explain what actually happened to Maddy- and witnessed every stammer and blush.)

Despite this though no one could be confident that Marinette's heart _truly_ belonged to Adrien now as the image of the flushed, moonstruck, Marinette all but swooning over Chat Noir dominated their memories of the Operation.

And now no one could help but question whether or not their hard work was being wasted as Marinette had finally moved onto another man.

Hence why Alya was on the verge of biting Alix's head off for asking – _for the tenth millionth time_ – whether or not Marinette still actually liked Adrien.

"Well she and Chat Noir looked very _cosy,_ " Alix said suggestively, "for her interest to be in Adrien only."

Alya flushed furiously at that. " _It doesn't mean anything!_ " She snapped crossly.

"Are you sure?" Kagami asked coolly. "Because it certainly looked like it meant _something._ "

"Yeah," Rose agreed anxiously, "I felt like I was intruding on an intimate moment when Marinette looked at Chat Noir like _that_."

Juleka nodded at that. "Felt like we should have looked away," she muttered as she cast her eyes to the floor shamefully.

" _I'm definitely sure_!" Alya hissed through gritted teeth. "I'm Marinette's _best friend_! We don't keep secrets from one another! She tells me everything! And I mean _everything!_ Do you have any idea how many rhapsodies on how the sun glistens on Adrien's golden head I've had to listen during Lit Class? Or how many odes to Adrien's smile Marinette pens on the margins of her maths notes? The girl can't look at anything green without sighing about how beautiful Adrien's eyes are and I can tell you that she definitely dreams about Adrien _because she mumbles his name in her sleep too_! It's _Adrien_ , it's _always been_ Adrien, and it will _always be_ Adrien. Case Closed! End of Story! That's _final_!"

Kagami relaxed at that and nodded in agreement while Alix rolled her eyes and threw up her arms in a surrendering gesture. Both Rose and Juleka looked wide-eyed and a little frightened but didn't argue while Mylene...

Well, for some reason Mylene didn't look reassured at all as she nibbled her bottom lip nervously. "It's just..." she trailed off hopelessly.

Everyone's heads whipped into her direction so quickly that Alya could have sworn she heard something snap in Alix's neck. Mylene shrank at all the glaring attention she was suddenly under as she huddled into herself and concentrated on her broken and chewed up nails rather than meet anyone's eyes.

"What?" Juleka asked.

"What is it, Mylene?" Rose said gently. "You were about to say something?"

"Just _what_?" Kagami said sternly.

"Yeah!" Alix said fiercely. " _Just what?!_ "

"Go on Mylene," Alya said impatiently as Mylene spluttered incoherently, "spit it out."

"Well it's just that," Mylene breathed in deeply and closed her eyes as she was clearly grasping for all of her courage. "...you remember when Adrien stood Marinette up on that ice cream date?!" Mylene blurted out in a rush. Alya barely had time to nod when Mylene carried on quickly. "Well Marinette asked the very next day what if she was missing out on someone else because she was too focused on Adrien? She sad _what if there is someone just as a beautiful, and kind, and_ _**so very sweet**_ _,_ _and he likes me._ _He_ _**really likes**_ _me. Enough for roses and candles and starry nights on the rooftop_...What if...well...just what if she was talking about Chat Noir?"

Immediately the others all looked worried and suspicious again while Alya felt overwhelmingly frustrated and annoyed with Marinette. Chat Noir took her out on a romantic evening filled with roses, candles, and starry nights and _she didn't tell her best friend?!_ What the hell?!

"That's just Marinette being Marinette," Alya said dismissively, "she's always been such a drama queen."

"Yeah..." Alix said dubiously, "she can be but..."

" _But,_ " Kagami agreed uneasily.

"It sounds oddly specific," Juleka mumbled.

Alya was on the verge of pointing out that Marinette is always oddly specific in her dramatic monologues on how either she and Adrien will be married with three children (Emma, Hugo, and Louis) and a hamster or she and Adrien will never be as he flees the country on the arm of an exotic beauty while she rots in prison from the restraining order he placed on her out of disgust, when Rose suddenly interrupted with her own melodramatic gasp.

" _The roses_!" Rose cried out.

"Huh?" Alya blinked bewilderedly.

"Come again," Alix said equally confused.

"Roses?" Juleka repeated quietly.

"What roses?" Kagami pressed.

"The _**roses**_!" Rose repeated exasperatedly. "You know the one that Marinette got after we gave her a concussion!"

"Oh yeah," Alix grinned sheepishly, " _those roses_. What about them?"

"Hold on," Kagami raised an eyebrow, "you all gave Marinette a _concussion_?"

" _It was an accident!_ " they all chorused in unison. "We were just trying to lock her and Adrien in a cupboard together."

"Ah," Kagami said understandingly (she had heard a version of this story before as well as many other tales of Marinette's epic clumsiness), "I see, carry on."

"Well, remember what Marinette said about the guy who gave her them?" Rose said in a rush. "She said that the guy that got her the roses was _really nice, and sweet, and polite and brave, with a stupid sense of humour, and the loveliest green eyes_ I know we all said that sounded like Adrien, but doesn't that also sound _exactly like_ Chat Noir?"

There was a beat of silence and then -

"Well shit," Alix flopped back onto the floor, "looks like Marinette has moved on from Adrien. Guess it's all over then."

"No," Alya said stubbornly, "not a chance, no way in hell, I am not letting that tight leather wearing _Cats_ anova put his filthy and dangerous paws all over my best friend."

"Erm..." Mylene said nervously, "you know it's up to Marinette who she ends up with, right?"

" _Please!_ " Alya spat out crossly. "Marinette has only moved onto an impossible thing because she still loves _Adrien_. This way with her crush on Chat Noir she can't possibly act on it because of obstacles like his secret identity, for all she knows he could be a perverted forty year old, or because it would paint a target on her back for Hawk Moth, or because Chat Noir is still blatantly in love with Ladybug. She's felt jilted and unwanted by Adrien and so has used Chat Noir to comfort her while knowing it's safe because it's something _that can never be_."

"Huh," Alix blinked, "makes sense. So what do we do?"

"We could hold an intervention with Marinette," Kagami suggested, "and make her aware that this sort of denial is unhealthy and dangerous for her."

"We could and she might even listen and agree," Alya said, "but it won't stop Chat Noir from approaching her and trying to seduce her like the blackguard he is! No," Alya shook her head firmly, "it's _Chat Noir_ we'll need to hold an intervention with."

"Oh yeah," Alix raised a sceptical eyebrow, "and exactly how do you plan on doing that."

"I'm the foremost journalist in all things Ladybug and Chat Noir," Alya bragged, "I have an in with Chat Noir and we'll use that to implement _Operation Scaredy Cat!_ "

" _Urgh_!" Alix moaned. "Don't tell me, we're going to break some laws again, aren't we?"

MLBMLBMLBMLBMLBMLB

They were so going to prison!

Alix couldn't see how they weren't after this one.

Their plan might not actually _consist_ of kidnapping Chat Noir (though it had been discussed) but they were still planning to corner him in a dark, shady, alleyway and threaten him with violence if he didn't do what they said. Alix was sure that was assault or coercion or something, and that meant hard time behind bars.

Especially since Rose came armed with a frying pan of all things.

"Is that really necessary?" Alix asked sceptically. "We're just having a word with Chat Noir."

" _With our fists_!" Rose waved the frying pan in the air passionately. "And Kagami got to bring her sword with her – the non-fencing one with actual pointy ends!" Kagami's lips twitched in amusement as her hand caressed her sword handle. "Why can't I defend myself from Chat Noir's smoulder with a frying pan?"

"You," Alix rolled her eyes, "have watched Tangled one time too many."

"It's her favourite Disney movie," Juleka mumbled.

" _Of course it is_ ," Alix muttered.

The plan, so far, consisted of them huddled up in a dark alleyway as they waited for Chat Noir to leap past on the rooftops. Alya, _who clearly needs a life if you ask Alix_ , assured them that this was Chat's usual route after an evening patrol. Alix was cold, tired, and hungry. She would dearly love to go home, eat something, and maybe watch Tangled.

It was better than calling her parents later tonight when Chat kicks them all into a cell.

" _Urgh_!" Alix shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot. "Is this going to take any much longer? I'm _cold!_ "

"Quit _whinging_!" Alya snapped irritably. "You sound like my little sis... _he's here_!" Alya hissed excitedly as a dark figure could be seen on the rooftop across the road. " _Chat Noir!_ " she called out. "Over here!"

Alya shot a pointed look over her shoulder and immediately everyone joined in.

"CHAT NOIR!"

"OVER HERE!"

"HELP!"

"SAVE US CHAT NOIR!"

It was a ridiculously simple plan but it worked without a hitch as Chat Noir flung himself down onto the road and dashed over towards them with concern lit up in his eyes and his baton at the ready for an attack.

It was rather hilarious to see his mouth drop open when they all grabbed hold of him and suddenly pinned him to the wall. Alya kept a tight grip on his shoulders as Mylene held an arm down and Juleka the other while Rose and Alix used their legs to firmly block Chat Noir's leg from any attempt of kicking or black flipping or whatever out of the confrontation.

Kagami very pointedly pressed the tip of her sword against Chat's throat.

Although Chat Noir's green eyes were wide with alarm and fear, Alix had to give the guy credit that he didn't suddenly lose his temper or scream or anything. Instead he merely swallowed audibly and licked his lips nervously before he broke out into a smarmy smile that she supposes he thought was _charming_.

"Ladies, ladies," he drawled, "there's no need to all grab at me like this. There's plenty of Chat Noir to go around though I have to confess I'm a one lady kind of c- _ **eek**_!"

Kagami pressed her sword a little harder against Chat Noir's throat as Rose smacked the frying pan against the palm of her hand in an attempt to look like an intimidating thug.

(She didn't. She looked about as menacing as a particularly bad tempered hamster. It was _adorable_.)

" _Look!_ " Chat cried out desperately. "Whatever Hawk Moth promised you girls, he's _lying_. You're better than this. You just need to fight it!"

" _Oh for God sake_!" Alya rolled her eyes. "Do any of us _look_ Akumatised right now?!"

"Well, no," Chat mumbled sheepishly, "but Hawk Moth might have changed tactics."

"We're _not_ working for Hawk Moth," Alya said flatly, "we're doing this for the greater good of Marinette."

"Marinette?" Chat repeated dumbly.

"Yes, _Marinette_!" Rose repeated crossly. "Big blue eyes, dark hair in pigtails, wears pink, and is the kindest, sweetest, girl in school, our friend Marinette."

"Or have you seduced so many girls that you can't tell the difference between them?" Kagami asked coldly. "How despicable you are."

Chat Noir spluttered incoherently at that. " _I am not a seducer_!" he finally managed to choke out with great indignation. "Marinette and I are just good friends and nothing more!"

The girls all groaned in disgust at that.

If they had a cent for every time they heard that one...

Kagami dropped her arm, and therefore was no longer holding the sneaky stray at sword point, as she gazed at Chat with an amusing mixture of revulsion and exasperation. "You sound exactly like Adrien Agreste!" she snapped irritably. "Down to the very clear lying tone of your voice!"

" _I do not sound like Adrien Agreste!_ " Chat blurted out rapidly. "Me and Adrien are nothing alike. Totally different. My voice is deeper and more manlier," he tried to deepen his voice to a manly growl...it didn't work. "Yeah, different, you see?" Chat's fearful expression suddenly crumpled up into a bewildered frown. " _Hang on_!" he cried out crossly. "What do you mean _clearly lying?!_ I'm not lying!"

"Pull the other one," Alya rolled her eyes, "it has bells on it. You're totally lying. We've seen you and Marinette together."

"W-w- _what do you mean you seen us together_?!" Chat stammered as his cheeks turned a rosy pink. "We haven't been _together!_ I've just rescued her like I have rescued many, many, many other citizens of Paris, including all of you."

"Yeah right," Alix sneered, "because you always look like you're about to _kiss_ us after you rescue us."

"Or carry us like we're precious cargo," Alya glowered, "you've hoisted me over your shoulder like a bag of potatoes once but Marinette? It was like she was your _bride!"_

Chat Noir's cheeks flushed to an interesting shade of red. It almost rivalled Marinette's blushes in heat, intensity, and colour. Alix didn't think it was possible for anyone to match Marinette's levels of embarrassment before.

She was impressed.

"I maintain that there is nothing romantic going on between me and _Marinette_!" Chat said as haughtily as possible (though the slight squeak when he uttered Marinette's name totally gave him away). "I have done nothing to suggest otherwise and I resent the insinuation that I would be unfaithful to My Lady with a good friend."

" _Oh for goodness sake_!" Rose exploded irritably. "We know about the roses!"

Chat blinked bewilderedly at that. It was such an nauseatingly stupid and oblivious reaction that it immediately sent Alix's heckles out for some reason, she didn't know why, it was all too familiar and annoying.

"So?" Chat said dumbly. "They were Get Well flowers for a _friend,_ " he stressed the word so irritatingly that Alix felt her eye twitch and could see that the others (especially Alya) were equally fed up and annoyed with that word as well. "There's nothing romantic in that."

" _They were pink_!" Rose all but screamed as she waved the frying pan manically. "And not just any kind of pink either! They were pink that got darker at the tips of their petals! That means deep affection _turning passionate_!" Alix and the others exchanged anxious glances as Rose was all but frothing at the mouth as she raved furiously. "You were suggesting a possible romance with those flowers! _Urgh!_ Just admit it, you were trying to seduce Marinette Dupain-Cheng!"

Chat Noir looked utterly taken back as he gazed at Rose with something akin to alarm and pure fear. He's mouth dropped open but nothing came out and he hastily closed it with a snap, swallowed audibly, and then -

" _I just thought pink was her favourite colour_!" He wailed. "I didn't think there would be any romantic connotations! They were just _flowers_!"

"Urgh!" Rose groaned in disgust. " _Boys_!"

"The flowers might have meant to be a platonic gesture," Mylene spoke up quietly but firmly. There was a soft deadliness to her voice that Alix had never heard before and it nearly freaked her out. _Gee!_ No wonder Ivan was so head over heels for this girl! "but you still took her out onto a candle lit rooftop and _that's_ romantic!"

" _She told you?!_ "

" _Aha_!" Alya jumped in. Her eyes glimmered with satisfaction and fury all at once. "So you admit it! You've been wooing her for months!"

"No I haven't!" Chat cried out. "I took her out as a friend!"

"Oh please!" Alya snorted derisively. "Friends don't take _friends_ out on romantic rooftops!"

"Or look like they're mere centimetres from snogging," Alix tacked on.

"And friends only give each other **YELLOW** roses!" Rose bellowed.

"But we are _friends_!" Chat whimpered pathetically. "She's just a very good friend!"

"Adrien says that too," Kagami said unimpressed, "and he's _always_ lying, so why would we believe you?"

"What?" Chat blinked dumbly. "What do you mean _Adrien always lies_?!"

"Well obviously he's in love with Marinette," Alix rolled her eyes, " _duh_!"

"No I – _he isn't!_ "

" _Yes he is_!" Rose snapped crossly. "You can tell just by the way he looks at her!" She clutched her hands together beneath her chin and all but swooned against the frying pan. "It's so sweet and romantic!"

"And the way he constantly touches her," Mylene added softly. "I don't think he ever leaves Marinette's shoulders alone."

"Not to mention she's the first person he approaches upon entering a room," Alix said. "He's constantly getting all up in her personal space like nobody's business."

"Like a heat seeking missile," Juleka mumbled.

Everyone nodded and hummed in agreement at that as Chat Noir stared at them with the biggest, widest, innocent eyes Alix had ever seen.

Babies have looked more evil than this guy.

(Then again Alix might be a little biased seeing as she was chased and almost crushed to death by a gigantic baby a few months ago.)

"And when we were making a film together he was far too eager in trying to kiss her," Alya said triumphantly, "I have it all on tape to prove it. He all but actually leaped away from Chloe but when he did the scene with Marinette he couldn't lean in fast enough!"

"And he _**never**_ shuts up about her," Kagami said cuttingly, "I have won several of our matches because he's too busy waxing poetry about how _nice_ and _amazing_ Marinette is to pay attention. At this rate I'll be the class champion without an actual challenge."

Alix and Alya rolled their eyes at each other over the genuine disappointment in Kagami's tone. They loved Kagami, seriously, but her weird driven need to be constantly challenged rather than accepting that she might be the best and could relax five minutes was something neither of them could understand.

After all there's nothing Alix loved more than putting Kim in his place without breaking a sweat.

Chat Noir, however, had now turned a rather chalky pale colour as he looked like he had been slapped repeatedly in the face with a fish.

"You...erm...make a good case," Chat gulped, "but that doesn't mean _you_ can decide who Marinette ends up with. It's Marinette's choice. She might not like Adrien back."

"Oh _please_!" Alya snorted dismissively. "Marinette has been in love with Adrien since the day he gave her his umbrella."

"... _ **WHAT?**_!" Chat yelped.

"How do you _not_ know that?" Mylene asked. Her big brown eyes wide with surprise and disbelieve. " _Everyone_ knows that."

"E-e-e- _everyone_?" Chat stammered.

"Well," Mylene shrugged, "it's not exactly something Marinette _hides._ "

"She's so obvious it's _painful_ ," Alix agreed, "she's constantly gazing at him with that icky dreamy expression."

"She's constantly tongue-tied around him," Alya added, "I have lost count of all of the stammering and word mix-ups I've had to endure each and every time she speaks to Adrien."

"She blushes," Juleka muttered, " _a lo_ t."

"She has clearly exhibited signs of jealousy whenever I'm around Adrien too," Kagami said calmly, "I must rectify that soon or any future encounters with her might become awkward."

"Yeah you should," Alya grinned sheepishly, "or it'll be much harder to convince her to join us on girly sleepovers in the future."

Kagami looked radiant with delight at the thought of a future girly sleepover. Alix glanced over at the others and they all silently agreed in that moment right there and then that as soon Operation Golden Lotus was put to bed they were having a girly sleepover to celebrate.

"And since they're in love and so perfect with one another, why _shouldn't_ we strive to get them together?!" Rose demanded to know furiously as she returned to the topic at hand. "We had some hiccups with Adrien not turning up for ice cream, and Chloe, and Marinette getting knocked out, but we were _getting there_ until _you_ swooped in with your stupid suave ways and smoulder!"

"Yeah!" Mylene glared. "Marinette was vulnerable and upset after Adrien was forced to stand her up and you just waltzed in and took her on a romantic rooftop trip like some jumped up Romeo."

"I...I was...that's _why_ she was so upset?" Chat whispered more to himself than to any of them. "Because of the ice cream trip?"

"It's not Adrien's fault!" Alya snapped defensively. "He's father wouldn't let him out but if he did, Adrien would have been there, they would have a fantastic time, and could be an exclusive couple now! But you've _ruined_ that!" She pushed her hands forcibly against Chat's collarbone which threw him back against the wall with a light thump. "I saw how Marinette looked at you in the park it was the same way she used to look at Adrien! _You're making her fall in love with you_!"

"I..." Chat said gormlessly, "...I...I..."

"You took advantage of Marinette when she was vulnerable," Kagami said icily, "and you are ruining any chance of Adrien achieving happiness for when he finally gets a clue. This cannot be tolerated."

" _Yeah_!" Mylene cried out crossly. "And how can you even be in a proper relationship when she doesn't know who you are?! You could be _anyone!_ "

"You could be a creepy forty year old pervert for all we know," Alix added nastily. "Preying on poor sweet, naïve, Marinette."

" _I am not some creepy forty year old!_ " Chat flushed.

"Notice how he didn't deny he was a pervert," Alix whispered loudly, "I think we're onto something here."

Chat Noir spluttered indignantly.

"And not to mention!" Rose trembled with barely suppressed fury. "You are _endangering_ Marinette! What if Hawk Moth sees you with Marinette and decides to target her to get at you?!"

"So do us all a favour," Alya concluded viciously, "stay away from my Girl and stick to Ladybug, capeesh?"

"I-"

"I said," Alya interrupted fiercely, " _capeesh_? Nod if you understand and agree with me."

Chat Noir nodded slowly.

"Good," Alya smiled radiantly as she stepped away from Chat Noir, "then we have nothing else to discuss." She nodded to the others and Alix moved her leg to free Chat's leg as the others also stepped away and let Chat Noir move away from the wall. "Let's go ladies, I think our job is done."

They all began to leave the alleyway when Mylene suddenly whirled round and ducked her head apologetically. "Thank you for saving us all of those times and it's not that we're not grateful it's just that we want Marinette to be happy," she babbled hastily, "so please don't put us in jail for threatening you and have a nice evening!"

And on that note, they all high-tailed it back home as quickly as they could before Chat Noir changed his mind.

For once though Alix was pretty sure they had finally achieved an operation without causing mayhem.

The newest obstacle in the pursuit of Operation Golden Lotus was gone.

Adrien and Marinette might get together any day now.

And then maybe Alix could have her evenings and weekends back to herself.

So, you know, she could go back to kicking Kim's ass in races.

(She had a feeling that big lug had gotten over-confident in his abilities again.)

MLBMLBMLBMLBMLBMLBMLB

The numbness of shock still hadn't worn off by the time Adrien had gotten home.

He just couldn't believe it.

Marinette was in love with him.

 _Him!_

She was in love with boring, bland, untalented Adrien Agreste, and as if that wasn't baffling enough (he couldn't figure out _why_ she would fall in love with him when she had never been that comfortable around him but apparently according to the girls those _were_ symptoms of her love for him) she was actually falling out of love with him only to _fall in love with him all over again_ as Chat Noir.

Which was a little more understandable because he was far more wittier and interesting as Chat Noir than he was as Adrien but that didn't change the fact that Marinette had barely spent enough time with Chat Noir to fall in love with him

(Though considering it took just a moment of glory for him to fall instantaneously and irrevocably in love with Ladybug, could he really judge?)

It was so ridiculous that he wouldn't have believed it at all if it wasn't for the soreness in his back and limbs from being pinned to a wall by his classmates.

How could someone so sweet, so kind, so amazing, so talented, and just so...so...so _beautiful_ be in love with someone like him?

 _Twice over!_

His transformation dropped just as he fell onto his bed with a soft flump. He had no peace and quiet to sort out his tangled thoughts though as Plagg immediately burst out in hysterical laughter. And Adrien means Plagg _howled_ with laughter as he clutched his belly, doubled over, and tears of mirth ran down his cheeks.

" _Plagg_!" Adrien barked irritably. "This isn't funny!"

"Oh come on, Kid!" Plagg wheezed between chortles. "It's _hilarious!_ You have to appreciate the irony that they're trying to warn _you_ away from a girl so she could be with _you._ "

"It's just..." he said helplessly, "I mean...I... _how?!_ And _why?!_ "

"Does it matter?" Plagg rolled his eyes. "The fact is she _does_ love you, and you love her, and all of those funny little friends of your want you to get together. So," Plagg's eyes gleamed with mischievous glee as he stared down at Adrien expectantly, "what are you going to do about it, Kid?"

"I..." Adrien murmured sadly, "...nothing, I'm going to do nothing."

"All right," Plagg shrugged, "any reason why?"

"Well," Adrien sat up, "for a start, I'm in love with Ladybug."

"Oh bother," Plagg muttered.

"Always have been and always will be and nothing can change that!" Adrien carried on passionately as he decided to ignore Plagg's sarky commentary. "I cannot have a relationship with another girl when my heart belongs to someone else. It isn't _fair_ on anyone in that situation. Secondly, the girls are _right._ I would be a danger to Marinette. As Chat Noir I will always pose a threat to her safety regardless to whether or not I wear the mask round her, and I couldn't live with myself if a _single hair_ on Marinette's head got hurt because of me. She deserves so much better than that. She deserves to be loved and cherished just like I do but-"

He interrupted himself with a loud melodramatic gasp as realisation slammed into him harder than Stoneheart.

He loved her.

He was in love with Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

How could he _not_ be?

She was so sweet, warm, and _nice_. She was so heroic with all of her little acts of kindness. The way she helped Juleka get her class photo, the way she constantly supported and encouraged all of her other friends, and the way she helped strangers without a single second if hesitation. And she was talented and clever too. She was resourceful in resolving problems like issues in school (how many times had he heard that Marinette figured out how to get everything people want with a small budget or to raise the right amount of money for an event) and her designs were stunning and awesome. She was brave too, so very, very, _very_ brave, with the way she stood up to Chloe and faced down Akumas without the protective magic of a Kwami to help her. And her _eyes!_ Those big, beautiful, blue eyes that reflected every emotion she felt and drew him in deeper and deeper...

She was everything he ever wanted in a life partner.

Why hadn't he realised that sooner?

It had been such a slow, steady, path to love that he hadn't noticed until now. It wasn't the quick leap to infatuation and desire as it had been with Ladybug, the only other time he had fallen in love. It had been all those little things slowly chipping away to his heart. A warm, fuzzy, comforting love that felt deeper and everlasting than anything else he felt before. It was something strong, true, and wonderful that it immediately stole all of his breath away and made his heart race and his stomach somersault just thinking about.

 _He was in love with her!_

"Plagg," Adrien said despairingly, "Alya, Alix, Kagami, Rose, Juleka, and Mylene were right! I _am_ in love with Marinette!"

" _Urgh_!" Plagg groaned disgustedly. "You're only figuring that out _now?_! Kid, you've clearly been in love with her since the day you gave her your umbrella!"

"But _Plagg_!" Adrien cried out (he refuses to admit it was more of a childish wail than anything else). "I'm in love with _both_ Marinette and Ladybug, what should I do?!"

Plagg, the unhelpful little shit, merely threw his head back and started to laugh all over again...


	8. Chapter 7: Operation Cheese Cult

**Operation Cheese Cult**

It stopped being funny after two weeks.

At first Plagg had found it highly entertaining as Adrien brooded and torn himself into two over his feelings for Ladybug and Marinette unaware that the two of them were in fact one and the same person. He also thought those funny classmates of Adrien's antics were rather amusing too and enjoyed watching them clown around as they tried to push Adrien and Marinette together in some of the most clumsy ways possible.

Especially since it now always resulted in Adrien running very fast in the opposite direction.

Plagg would cackle for hours over his cheese from the hilarity of it all.

Then the shine began to fade and it got boring and annoying quickly. Very annoying. All Adrien ever did was whine and complain about the fact he was in love with two different girls and couldn't be with either one of them. Plagg couldn't even sleep through it at all as Adrien would shake him awake and demand advice.

Telling the Kid just to stick with cheese had done nothing to prevent it from happening again and again and _again._..

As the third week began to drag and Adrien ranted – _for the eighth billionth time_ – Plagg lost it altogether.

"Oh for the love of cheese!" Plagg cried out. " _I can't take it any more!_ This is torture! Pure, utter, unadulterated _torture_ and I was once held captive by the most sadistic minds in the Catholic Church back in the days they burnt people for a slight disagreement in doctrine! Congratulations Kid, you've done something no one else could. You've _broken_ me!"

"Huh?" Adrien said utterly baffled (which only served to frustrate Plagg further), "What do you mean, Plagg?"

"That I _give up_!" Plagg snapped irritably. "The Sugar Cube can lecture me till the end of time and it wouldn't grate on me as much as this. You can stop your silly long-suffering sighs because I have news for you Kid, your precious Ladybug is M- _hiccup_!"

Plagg watched in utter dismay as Marinette's name turned into a giant soap bubble and wafted away towards the ceiling. Adrien watched it with the biggest wide-eyed gormless expression Plagg had ever seen in his very long life.

 _Goddammit!_

He had forgotten about that stupid rule.

"Did you..." Adrien trailed off as he watched the bubble pop against his ceiling, "Plagg, you do know that the bar of soap in my bathroom isn't cheese, right?" he asked hesitatingly, "I know it has the same icky pale blocky look to it but they're _not_ the same thing. Soap smells better for a start."

" _Urgh_!" Plagg groaned in disgust (how dare he say soap _smelt better than cheese_?! Nothing smelt better than cheese! Cheese was the food of Gods! Plagg should know, _he is one_!). "You're hopeless!"

He then zoomed off to the other side of the room where his beloved (and heavenly smelling, _thank you very much_!) cheese sat waiting to be devoured. As he angrily munched on the creamy deliciousness, Plagg glowered at Adrien's back.

(Can you believe the brat – instead of asking what was bothering Plagg – just went back to moping over his dilemma while shooting aliens or monsters or whatever on his boring computer game? _How rude!)_

He couldn't drop hints with Adrien. Plagg tried that one time too many and usually they went over Adrien's head in a very frustrating manner. Adrien always assumed that Plagg ate too much cheese (Such _blasphemy_! There's no such thing as _too much_ cheese!) or something and the rules that bound Plagg to the Miraculous prevented him from outright saying it.

Though at this point Plagg was convinced his Kid was so thick that he could tell him Marinette is Ladybug and the idiot would just assume Plagg meant it as a simile or a metaphor or something (What? Plagg might have to Adrien's French classes but that doesn't mean he has to _pay attention_ in them).

So Plagg had to arrange for an identity reveal to happen.

And he had to do it without it looking like he did it or Tiki may very well murder him, her other half or not.

So that meant he had to use a third party to cause the identity reveal.

But who?

It had to be someone who was clever, resourceful, and capable to pull off a manoeuvre like that. Someone who could be trusted with the truth (or enough of it to do Plagg's bidding) and not sell them all out to Hawk Moth. Someone who was gullible or desperate enough to agree to serve the God of Misfortune and Destruction. And someone who had access to cheese because Plagg ought to get something out of solving all of Adrien's love life problems, and _dammit Plagg wanted some cheese_!

The memory of those enterprising but oh so desperate girls from Adrien's class crossed Plagg's mind and how enterprising and clever but trustworthy and desperate all at the same time they were.

 _And_ , he smirked to himself, _they probably have plenty of pocket money to buy me cheese!_

Heh.

You know what? It's been a good few centuries since Plagg had his own devoted disciples to boss about...

MLBMLBMLBMLBMLBMLBMLB

Alya was beginning to suspect that Operation Scaredy Cat didn't go as well as she originally thought it had.

After a few, light, probing questions Alya had determined that Chat Noir had not suddenly dropped by at the Dupain-Cheng bakery to declare his undying love and how he won't let the likes of Alya and the others get between him and Marinette. Which was _fantastic!_ And Alya also confirmed that whatever Marinette felt for Chat Noir (which the girl refused to give a straight answer on as she just rambled how she admired him as a hero and thought he was sweet but he was also so annoying with his stupid puns and ridiculous and impulsive and...Alya kinda tuned out at that point) paled in comparison to her feelings for Adrien, and that left Alya satisfied that Operation Golden Lotus would continue without a hiccup.

She hadn't counted on Chat Noir threatening the living daylights out of Adrien.

 _Which he must have done!_

Because that was the only explanation Alya could come to after Adrien's weird behaviour these last two weeks. A look of pure terror tended to cross the poor boy's face every time he saw Marinette and Alya, and he then tended to immediately turned around and dash off into the opposite direction as fast as he could. If Marinette had the chance to somehow get close to Adrien, the boy instantly flushed bright red, stammered out an excuse, and ran off before Marinette could blink.

The girls tried to put a stop at this but short of _literally tackling Adrien to the ground and tying him up_ (which would only end in detention again), they had no chance in hell in stopping that boy from moving when he wanted to.

(Who knew Adrien was so agile and flexible?)

And after a another big failure in Operation Bare Midriff, in which they forced Marinette to turn up to school in a nice pair of skinny black jeans and a pink crop top that left her stomach and shoulders for all of the world to see, it had failed utterly because while Adrien couldn't quite keep his eyes off of Marinette (darting rapidly from her belly button to her shoulders every time his gaze slipped to her chest) it didn't exactly inspire him to talk to Marinette nor did it give Marinette any confidence to talk to Adrien as she went bright pink from embarrassment and allowed Miss Bustier to send her him to get changed, the girls all collapsed onto Mylene's bedroom floor exhausted.

"I give up!" Alix declared. "This is _impossible_!"

"I agree," Mylene moaned into her pillow, "if we can't keep Adrien and Marinette in the same spot for more than three seconds how are we going to get them to start _dating_?"

"We'll think of something!" Rose said determinedly though she looked peaky with tiredness as her complexion were several shades lighter than normal and the shadows under her eyes were darker than normal. "I, for one, refuse to give up! _True love triumphs over all!_ "

"I wish I had your belief," Juleka murmured, "because I'm convinced _nothing_ can triumph over a running Agreste."

"Where's Kagami?" Alix asked whiningly. "She could pin Adrien down with her sword for us."

"Kagami," Alya said grimly, "has parental issues right now. Her mother, who sounds eerily like Adrien's Dad, has just found out that Kagami has a boyfriend and friends she rather spend time with than revise the periodic table or whatever. She's under lock down right now."

" _Urgh_!" Alix groaned disgustedly. "Her Mum sounds like a fascist. Let's drop the Golden Lotus stuff and work on rescuing Kagami instead."

"Wayhem's already on it," Alya said confidently, "he has a dinner with Mrs Tsurugi tonight where he plans to persuade her to let Kagami have some fun."

"Do you think he'll win her over?" Mylene asked hopefully.

"He already managed to convince her to meet him for dinner," Alya pointed out dryly, "which is more than even Nino or Chloe has gotten from Mr Agreste. I think Kagami will be sprung out by the weekend."

" _Oh thank God!_ " Rose cried out relieved. "Because Kagami really, really, really wanted a girly sleepover soon and it would be so sad if she never got that!"

"We'll make it happen," Alix promised fiercely, "as soon as we finally get Adrien and Marinette together and then we could celebrate with an all girls sleepover to get all the gossip."

"That's assuming we will _ever_ get Adrien and Marinette together," Mylene said despairingly, "because at this rate it'll be up to _our grandchildren_ to get them together! We need a miracle!"

Alya thought that was a tad melodramatic and was just about to say so when a great, big, demonic looking shadow with pointed ears and a tail suddenly rose up on Mylene's bedroom wall. Rose and Mylene instantly screamed, Alix sat up quickly, Juleka's eyes widened, and Alya fumbled for her phone to capture this new Akuma on her blog.

"PUNY MORTAL HUMANS!" a loud voice boomed. "BOW DOWN TO YOUR MIGHTY SAVIOUR. FOR I AM THE MIRACLE YOU'VE BEEN WAITING FOR!"

The shadow shrank as a small, floating, cat-like creature hovered into the centre of the bedroom. He had the same larger head to smaller body ratio as Trixx had and familiar flashing emerald green cat eyes. There was no doubt in Alya's mind that this was a Kwami, and not just any Kwami but _Chat Noir's_ Kwami.

Alya narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

Was this Chat Noir's new ploy?

To send his Kwami in to sabotage and terrify them out of their plans?

Well he could sure hell try but Alya wasn't going to be terrified and she had no problem capturing this little catty critter under a glass and contacting Ladybug if she had to.

" _Holy shit_!" Alix yelled as she jumped back. "It's a talking, flying, rat!"

" _I beg your pardon_?!" Chat Noir's Kwami said haughtily. "I am clearly a _cat_ , a far more magnificent and majestic species than some silly rat, you should bow down before me and grovel for such an insult!"

" _Pfft_!" Alix snorted. "Yeah, and what are you going to do to me if I don't? Nibble my toes?"

"Just because I am small doesn't mean I am weak!" Chat Noir's Kwami sniffed disdainfully. "I am the God of Misfortune and Destruction. If you won't want to be cursed with a week of bad luck you might want to rethink your take on the whole grovelling thing."

"All right, all right!" Alix held her hands up in a surrendering gesture. "I'm sorry I called you a rat, Oh _Mighty One_ , please forgive me."

"I might," Chat Noir's Kwami held up a paw and narrowed his eyes as if he was examining it for dirt or something, "providing you serve me up your finest cheese."

Alix opened her mouth to argue or maybe just to be snarky but Plagg's green eyes flashed ominously in the light and, as if she suddenly remembered that magic was a possibility in their lives now, Alix immediately snapped her mouth shut again before she hurried out of the bedroom. She returned with a few minutes later with a couple sloppily cut thick slices of cheddar and hesitatingly held them out to Plagg.

They all leaned back in disgust as Plagg literally stuffed both slices in his mouth in one go. His cheeks bulged out for a brief moment before he swallowed without barely chewing the two thick bits of cheese.

 _Ew_.

"If you're a God," Juleka mumbled, "then why are you here in a _teenage girl's_ bedroom?"

"Yeah!" Rose agreed. "Shouldn't you be in whatever version of Heaven you come from doing godly things instead of demanding cheese _here?_!"

"What can I say," the Kwami shrugged arrogantly, "I am a benevolent God who enjoys making his people happy. Besides," the Kwami yawned, "I was getting bored and could use a change of scenery and some excitement."

Alya snorted derisively at that.

"I _am!_ " the Kwami insisted. "I'm very nice and helpful, providing I'm fed with good quality cheese."

"How do we know you're here to help?" Alya demanded to know. "And not to sabotage us, _Oh God of Misfortune and Destruction_. Maybe you're here to help _Chat Noir_ get the girl instead of our friend Adrien."

The Kwami raised an eyebrow up as his gaze flickered over Alya in a rather – irritatingly – unimpressed manner. "Either a certain little bug has had one interview too many with you or your Trixx's new kid," he drawled out.

"I, erm, have no idea what you're talking about," Alya said nervously as she avoided her friends' questioning bewildered gazes. Ladybug had asked her to keep that a secret and Alya was going to do so until her dying breath!

" _Sure you don't,_ " Plagg smirked, his razor teeth flashing ominously.

"I believe I asked you a question first!" Alya spluttered out indignantly. " _Well?!_ "

"Believe me," the Kwami said calmly, "the sooner you get this Marinette with this Adrien guy the sooner Chat Noir will get his Lady which means the sooner I will finally get some peace and quiet from my Kid's brooding rants about unrequited love."

"Wait," Alix frowned at the Kwami suspiciously,"do you know Chat Noir or something?"

"I'm a God," the Kwami said haughtily, "I know _everyone_ and _everything_ , like all Gods do, and you can call me Plagg by the way but I wouldn't be against Your Worshipfulness, Your Most Magnificent, or Almighty God Who I Worship, either."

"I think we'll stick to _Plagg_ ," Alya said flatly, "and exactly _how_ are you going to help us?"

"Ah, ah, ah!" Plagg wagged a paw at them patronisingly. "You're a group of highly intelligent ladies. Surely by now you know there's no such thing as a free lunch? If you want my help you're going to have to form a cheese cult in my honour at the very least."

"WHAT?!"

" _Oh my God_!" Rose gasped horrified as she clutched her face. "You want us all to worship you and make human sacrifices in your honour?!"

" _What?_!" Plagg spluttered indignantly. "Ew! No! _What is wrong with you people_?! Every single time I try to form my own cult you're always insisting on _sacrificing people_. Do I look like I want to eat human flesh?"

" _Goats?_!" Rose blurted out squeakily. "Tell me it's not goats! I don't think I can stab a goat on a satanic circle!"

"Oh, _for the love of_ -" Plagg cut himself off frustratedly, "no goat or any other weird animal you're thinking of, and definitely _no satanic circles_! I'm a _God_ not a little demon. You have to sacrifice cheese though, lots and lots and _lots_ of cheese, preferably a high premium quality such as my beloved Camembert."

Rose sighed heavily in relief at that as her shoulders slumped and her body loosened into a more relaxed stance. "Oh good," she said happily, "I can do that."

" _Cheese?_!" Alix repeated sceptically. "And you're definitely sure you're not a rat?"

Plagg glowered at Alix. "I'm sure those vermin would never know how to appreciate a true delicacy such as cheese," he growled, "now every week you must sacrifice a wheel of cheese each to me for the rest of your hideously short lives."

"Well that's manageable," Mylene said, "is there anything else?"

"Yes, you must only own cats, you will pray to me only, worship me, which shall include ear scratches, belly rubs, and somewhere cosy to sleep after you hand feed me cheese! You must also celebrate my awesomeness and greatness on Plagg Day, Plaggster, Plaggmas, and Plaggween-"

Alya, Alix, and Juleka all snorted at that while Rose and Mylene struggled to smother their giggles.

"- **ALL OF WHICH**!" Plagg bellowed over their laughter. "You must sacrifice another wheel of cheese in my honour, and finally, you must all name your firstborns after the finest cheeses you can think of."

Their laughter halted to a stop.

"I'm sorry," Alix said, not sorry at all, "but you want us to do _what?!_ "

"Name your first born children after cheese," Plagg rolled his eyes, "did I stutter or something or do you just not understand French?"

"So if I want Marinette to finally get snogged by _Adrien Freaking Agreste_ I have to name my poor kid _Wensleydale?_!" Alix yelled. " _Why?!_ What did poor Wensleydale ever do to you?!"

Alya had to agree with Alix here. Her future child would end up being a bully victim if she named them after a wheel of cheese. She could just envision the cheese-related taunts that will eventually lead her child to get themselves emancipated and herself jailed for child abuse...

"Look it's quite simple," Plagg said flatly, "do you want Adrien and Marinette to get together or not? Because I can quite easily just sit back and watch you lot flounder about. You've been highly entertaining so far these last few months."

They all flushed with indignation and humiliation at that.

"But if you want to finally go back to your normal lives knowing your friend has her happy ever after and celebrate with that girly sleepover then you have to _suck it up_ , agree to my terms, and let me advice you," Plagg carried on, "so which one is it? More embarrassing failures or your friend's happiness?"

"We _swore_!" Rose glared ferociously at Alix as she planted her hands on her hips. "We swore an oath that we would sacrifice anything to achieve Golden Lotus including our firstborns, _remember?_!"

"Urgh! _Fine!_ " Alix huffed. "I'll call my kid Wensleydale and he'll hate me forever for it, happy now?"

"Yes," Plagg said dryly.

"Our poor kids," Mylene smiled sadly, "there's not many good sounding cheese names, is there?"

"I don't know," Rose said thoughtfully, "Brie is a rather pretty girl's name."

"...And just like that you're now my favourite," Plagg declared cheerfully as he zipped closer to Rose. Rose giggled, utterly delighted, as she reached out and scratched beneath Plagg's chin. " _Definitely my favourite_!" Plagg purred deeply. "Can I move in with you if my Kid gets too annoying?"

"You're so cute!" Rose beamed. "I'd be happy to take care of you."

" _Rose_!" Juleka hissed horrified. "God of _Misfortune_ and _Destruction_."

"But look at him!" Rose pouted. "He's so _adorable_! He wouldn't hurt a fly."

Alya doubted that.

Chat Noir's cataclysm had come from this guy and look at all the damage and harm that has done in the past. Sure, it is miraculously cured by Ladybug but that doesn't change the fact that some of the destruction caused was _devastating_. Then there was a fact the guy was a God apparently (Neither Ladybug nor Trixx had warned her that the Miraculous dealt with _Gods_ ). Mythology showed that Gods can be petty and vindictive when the mood strikes them.

Alya had no doubt that Plagg probably could gobble them all up and spit them back out again if he so desired.

And the fact that he only looked amused by them suggested that as soon as he got bored of them, they would probably find themselves alone in a world of trouble.

But... _still_...

They have been alone in a world of trouble long before Plagg had came into their lives and if he could help them achieve their goal then maybe they won't get into more trouble.

And they can finally have that satisfaction of seeing Adrien and Marinette together as a couple.

"Okay," she said calmly, "we're part of your cult now, _Your Worshipfulness._ Now what?"

"Now," Plagg smirked, "you have to fetch me the finest Camembert you can afford so I'll be able to come up with a plan that will actually work."

"What?" Alix grinned. "No initiation ceremony, I'm disappointed."

"This _is_ your initiation ceremony," Plagg said irritably, "now get me my cheese! I'm _hungry_! Chop, chop."

They didn't even glance at one another as they all scrambled for their bags and all but flew out of the apartment towards the nearest cheese shop they could find.

MLBMLBMLBMLBMLBMLBMLB

"Should we really be doing this?" Alix asked as they waited impatiently in line at the cheese shop (who knew cheese was such a popular commodity that there would be a _queue_?!). "I mean when I think about, and I mean really, really, _really_ think about it, getting Adrien and Marinette together might doom humanity."

Alya, Juleka, Mylene, and Rose all stared at Alix as if she announced she was secretly an anime cosplayer with a penchant to dance with chickens under the moonlight or something equally bizarre and stupid. "Might want to explain that one, Alix," Alya said in dry amusement.

"Well their kids, sure they're going to beautiful and so kind it'll be _sickening_ ," Alix rambled, "but they would also be the _densest_ , most _oblivious_ , and _insanely stupid_ children in the world to. We could be condemning future generations to be too beautiful but too stupid and thus ending all mankind!"

" _Oh my God_!" Rose cried out exasperated. "If you don't want to name your kid Wensleydale then pick a _different cheese_! It's easy as that! But don't pick Brie," she added hastily, "I totally have dibs on Brie!"

"Nah," Alix grinned, "I've grown attached to Wensleydale."

"You're just being difficult to annoy us," Mylene narrowed her eyes in suspicion, "aren't you?"

"Well Plagg isn't the only one who needs to be entertained in this group," Alix smirked as she ducked Alya, Rose, and Juleka's attempts to swat her, "but it is a valid point and one we ought to consider."

"Marinette's babies are not going to be too stupid," Alya rolled her eyes, "because I, their future Godmother, will ensure they strong thought processing skills no matter what!"

"Hang on!" Alix glared. "Who says _**you**_ get to be the Godmother?!"

"Well," Alya said haughtily, "I am Marinette's best friend and I am dating Adrien's best friend."

"Oh yeah," Alix said cheekily, "I forgot to tell you what a cute couple you and Chloe make."

"Ha, ha," Alya said sarcastically.

Alix would have teased Alya some more by pointing out that she hadn't exactly seen Nino outside of school for the last few weeks but the queue finally moved and they hastily rushed forwards with their collection of cheese. It totally wiped them out of their weekly allowance (and boy, Alix was not looking forwards to explaining why she hadn't eaten lunch at school to her parents) but it was worth it to see the weird cat creature (Alix still thought he looked like rat) to feast like a maniac as he got himself covered in gooey cheese.

" _So?_!" Alix demanded.

"So what?" Plagg licked his paws. "I'm still eating here."

"ARGH!"

"What kind of plan do you have?" Rose asked eagerly. "Are you going to use your powers of misfortune and destruction to create an event where Marinette's life is in danger and Adrien has to save her and when they meet each other's eyes they instantly know and lean in for the _most passionate kiss of all ages_?!"

"No," Plagg rolled his eyes, "because that would be _stupid._ You don't need an overcomplicated plan reliant on so many factors that something is bound to go wrong. That's where you keep failing."

Alix shot a pointed look at Alya as if to say 'told your so!' which Alya merely glared back in response.

"You need to keep it simple," Plagg carried on, "sometimes less is more."

"Oh," Rose said disappointedly, "So what is your plan then?"

"Well..." Plagg drawled out, "it seems that your problem is that the girl is so uncomfortable with her feelings that she can't speak coherently with the boy while the boy is freaking out so much that he can't even stay in the same room as the girl."

"Yes," Alya gritted her teeth, "we're well aware of the problem but how do we _fix it_?!"

"You humans so impatient, so impulsive," Plagg tsked, "you'll never succeed if you keep rushing into things."

"JUST TELL US!"

" _Jeeze_!" Plagg rolled his eyes. "You're all as bad as A – I mean, my Kid. It's easy as cheese, you just cuff them!"

"Cuff them?" Alix repeated sceptically. "As in _handcuffs_?!"

"Yep!" Plagg popped the 'p'. "That means they're stuck together all day and they have no choice but to t _alk to one another_ and then she'll get comfortable with him to talk normally and he'll be at ease enough to _finally realise what's under his nose_ , and by the time those handcuffs are off they'll be a couple."

"I _see_!" Alya exclaimed. "A little exposure therapy to get them started!"

Plagg threw his head back and cackled as he rubbed his paws together, if it wasn't for the fact they had all seen him scoff so much cheese down his throat that he made **KIM** look like a gentleman, they might have been a little worried about how _evil_ his laughter sounded.

"Exactly," Plagg smirked, "Welcome to Operation _Exposure_ Therapy."

 **Author's Note:** A special shout out to PerditaAlottachocolate, who had inspired the soap joke donkeys ago. Thank you very much for the support and inspiration.


	9. Chapter 8: Operation Exposure Therapy

**Operation Exposure Therapy**

It took a few days to get hold of a pair of handcuffs.

After all they had just spent a small fortune on buying all of that cheese for Plagg (which Alix was now beginning to believe was a hallucination born out of sheer exhaustion and desperation). Once they all had enough money to chip in for a pair of sturdy (and not easy to break) pair of handcuffs and got through the awkwardness of actually _buying the handcuffs_ (there had been heavy blushes, a lot of stammering, and an inability of looking at the cashier in the eye), they immediately jumped to enact their plan the very next day.

Which was about nearly a whole week after they had met Plagg.

The next step was just as much, if not more so, painful as actually buying the handcuffs.

Getting Adrien and Marinette close enough to one another long enough to slips the handcuffs on them.

With Adrien still actively avoiding Marinette it seemed to be a task worthy of Hercules to actually get them within three feet of one another, let alone a _few inches apart_! Thankfully though the girls had their own hero to rely on (don't ever tell Nino that Alix said that!) as Nino took up the task by distracting them both with his new remix.

"Dude!" Nino called out cheerfully. "You have to check this out," he waved his phone in the air. "It's my newest jam and I want my best friend's honest opinion. You too Marinette!" Nino waved Marinette over. "You've got good taste, you'll tell me if this is worthy of Jagged Stone or not."

" _Nino_!" Adrien cried out. "I don think that-"

"I...erm...ah...you...but... _.guh!_ "

Adrien and Marinette had no chance in making a single argument as to why they couldn't listen to Nino's new remix as Nino cut them off by dragging Marinette close and stuffing his headphone buds in one of her ears and the other in Adrien's. The two of them collided against one another and fumbled hastily to catch Nino's phone before it could fall to the ground.

Nino then stepped back as the two blushing idiots avoided all eye contact with one another as their fingers innocently brushed against one another. It was something sickeningly nauseating straight out of a teen romance and Alix had no problem whatsoever ruining the moment by ensuring something actually happened.

Adrien and Marinette were so distracted by trying to not look at one another while simultaneously listening to Nino's music that they hadn't noticed Alix – being the smallest and the most eager for the task – slip on the handcuffs round their wrists.

That is, they hadn't noticed until the obvious clicking noise of the lock snapping into place.

"What the-?" Adrien jerked back horrified.

" **EEK**!" Marinette squealed as she was suddenly yanked forwards.

They had both almost dropped the phone when Nino swooped down and hastily snatched it up before it could hit the ground. He then quickly yanked out the headphones before they could also be lost and stepped back to watch the train wreck that was Marinette and Adrien.

Poor Marinette wasn't exactly graceful at the best of times and, _of course_ , when she was suddenly pulled forwards so quickly she had immediately lost all footing and, more or less, tripped straight into Adrien's chest. There was a brief moment where her big, wide, blue eyes met Adrien's slightly dazed green ones (and Rose would later swear she saw pink hearts float round their friends) before it truly sank in that Marinette's body was right up against Adrien's and they both blushed a violent shade of red and leaped back from one another.

The handcuffs kept them chained together though and they immediately stumbled back towards one another.

Alix couldn't help it; she laughed loudly and manically at the sight.

" _Alix!_ " Adrien growled furiously. "This isn't funny! _Let us go_!"

"Nope," Alix smirked.

" _Alix_!" Marinette squeaked. "Adrien's right, you've got to let us go!"

"No way!" Alix grinned as she waved the key tauntingly. "This is for your own good, Marinette."

Adrien lunged at Alix but he was already too late as Alix whipped round and threw the key over to Mylene. Mylene fumbled for a moment before she managed to catch the key and huddled it close to her chest. Adrien looked like he had been hit over the head by Rose's frying pan as his mouth dropped open and his eyes widened.

Then an oddly familiar and determined gleam appeared in his eyes as he confidently strode towards Mylene.

" **EEP**!" Mylene shrieked.

She hastily threw the key over Adrien's head and it was swiftly caught by Alya. " _Aha_!" she crowed victoriously. "No freedom under my watch!"

" _Alya_!" Marinette wailed. "Why are you doing this to me?! I thought you were my best friend!"

"I am your best friend," Alya replied calmly, "that's why I'm doing this for you, Girl, it's in your best interest."

"HOW?!"

Marinette, bless her soul, tried as she rushed forwards (and caused Adrien to let out a surprised yelp as he staggered behind her) and attempted to strong arm the key out of Alya's grasp. Unfortunately Alya was just a little bit quicker and slyer as she managed to throw the key behind her and into Juleka's hands.

By the time Adrien and Marinette were able to stumble past Alya and towards Juleka, the key was out of their reach in Rose's hands, and she happily chucked them back over to Alix at the last minute, who threw them back to Alya, who tossed them back to Juleka, who did a wicked long throw back to Mylene...

….and the key slid past her fingers by a mere millimetre and immediately fell into the gutter grate, through the gaps of the metal bars, and landed with a soft plop into sewage water.

"Oh no!" Mylene gasped.

They all stared at the gutter grate with a mixture of sheer horror (Adrien and Marinette), guilt (Mylene), baffled amusement (Nino), and utter delight and glee (Alya, Alix, and Rose – Juleka's expression was unreadable but Alix assumed she was just as pleased as they were.) as a thick, heavy, silence descended upon them.

And then the school bell rang.

"Well," Alix grinned cheerfully, "time to go to class. Looks like you two are stuck with each other for the day."

Adrien spluttered indignantly while Marinette let out some sort of stammering squeak as they both flushed in embarrassment.

"Come one guys," Alya herded the pair towards the school, "you don't want to be late to class or Ms Bustier won't be as accommodating to your new seating arrangement as you would like."

Adrien and Marinette staggered and stumbled all the way to the class room as they kept trying to subtly sneak a glance at one another and immediately whipped their heads round the opposite direction when they accidentally made eye contact.

It was _beautiful!_

Alix and the others happily exchanged high fives for a job well done and all but skipped to class behind Adrien and Marinette.

There was nothing that could spoil the good mood Alix was in!

That is...until Ms Bustier stared down at them with an unimpressed, disappointed, disapproving glare as they babbled their explanation how the only key to the handcuffs was now missing and Adrien and Marinette will have to be stuck with one another today. "I see," she said flatly, "... _detention_ , I think, for the next two weeks."

 _Goddammit!_

Alix should have known this plan was too good to be true.

MLBMLBMLBMLBMLBMLBMLBMLB

Marinette was going to die of embarrassment!

There was no doubt about it. Already she could feel her face burn with the humiliation, her stomach twist and turn, and her soul slipping away as she wished the ground could swallow her up whole. There was _no way in a million years_ she could survive _a whole day_ handcuffed to _Adrien_! He will witness _ **everything!**_ There will be no respite! She will be stuck in this flustered state of stumbling and stammering for all eternity.

Adrien was going to think she was a moron.

If he doesn't already.

She was going to _kill_ her friends for this, no seriously, she will, and _violently_ too! _How could they do this to her?!_

Somehow Marinette and Adrien were able to make it to the classroom without major incident (though Marinette had tripped three times on the way and squeaked out apologies constantly as Adrien steadied her back on her feet) but there was no rescue to be found there. Ms Bustier turned to greet them warmly only for her mouth to drop open in surprise.

"Oh my!" she cried out. "Adrien, Marinette, what on earth-?"

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY ADRI-KINS?!"

Everyone in the classroom winced at Chloe's shrill screech. The enraged blonde had almost turned purple from rage as she stomped her way towards Adrien and Marinette. She grabbed hold of Adrien's arm so forcefully that Adrien flinched beneath her touch and tried to yank him away only to have Marinette dragged alongside him.

"Jeeze Dupain-Cheng," Chloe sneered, "you really must be desperate if you had to _chain yourself_ to a guy just to get noticed."

Marinette flushed in humiliation at the cruel taunt. She was too embarrassed and exhausted from trying to get to the classroom without colliding into Adrien that she couldn't bring herself to fend of Chloe's trademark nastiness.

Fortunately though, she didn't have to as Adrien stepped slightly in front of her in a heroic manner as he glared disapprovingly at Chloe.

" _Chloe_!" Adrien reprimanded. "This isn't Marinette's fault."

"Yeah!" Alix burst out from behind them. "And if there was anyone that needed to chain herself to a guy, it's _you_. Even all of Daddy's money isn't enough to get a guy interested in the likes of you."

Chloe let out a wordlessly shriek of fury and lunged at Alix.

Ms Bustier intervened just in time as she stepped between the girls. "Chloe, such behaviour is beneath you!" she said sternly. "Remember you are a representative for your father and such violent actions would reflect poorly on him, and then how will he be able to run for mayor again?"

These were magic words for Chloe.

She might not care for much but she did care for the power she had as the mayor's daughter, and there was no way she was going to let anything stop her from being able to bully teachers and students alike at a future date.

So instantly, almost miraculously, Chloe relaxed into a normal stance, her complexion cleared to it's near peachy perfection, and she composed herself as if she hadn't been a snarling animal mere seconds ago. "Of course," she said arrogantly, "I am above such riff-raff and do not need to lower myself to their standards."

Alix just stuck her tongue out in response.

"And Alix," Ms Bustier turned to frown at the small, pink-haired, girl, "that was an incredibly unkind thing to say. Apologise to Chloe now."

Alix rolled her eyes. "Sorry," she mumbled insincerely.

Ms Bustier looked unimpressed but didn't press the matter at hand. Instead she raised an eyebrow at Marinette and Adrien's cuffed wrists and Marinette instantly felt her cheeks burn under the scrutiny. "Now then," Ms Bustier said calmly, "could someone please explain to me exactly _why_ Adrien and Marinette are handcuffed together?"

"It's our fault Miss," Mylene confessed instantly, "We thought it would be funny."

Marinette spluttered indignantly at that.

 _Funny?!_

They thought it would be **FUNNY** that Marinette was attached to her crush for the rest of her days. That it would be hilarious if Marinette was just rendered speechless and tongue-tied, and utterly helpless beneath the radiance of Adrien Agreste's smile? That it would be side-splitting if Marinette just continued to make a fool of herself until _Adrien would request to have his hand chopped off so he didn't have to interact with her ever again?!_

Oh she was going to be having words with her so called friends for this!

 _Loud ones!_

All while she cheerfully murdered them.

"Yes," Ms Bustier said flatly, "very amusing. Now if you would be so kind to release them so we can begin our lessons today."

"Erm..." Alya said sheepishly, "Yeah, about that..."

"We kinda lost the key," Rose said timidly, "down in the sewer grate."

"And it as the only key," Juleka finished in a mumbled.

Ms Bustier looked sceptical which Marinette agreed with wholeheartedly. Handcuffs usually came with two pairs of keys just in case and she had no doubt one of the girls were either hiding a key on them or in their bedroom.

She just had to figure out which one.

"I see," Ms Bustier said flatly, "... _detention_ , I think, for the next two weeks."

Alix and Alya instantly stiffened and spluttered indignantly at that but Rose and Mylene hung their downs down in shame. Juleka, however, looked utterly indifferent to the whole thing (then again her mother had actually encouraged Juleka to get as many detentions she can especially if she was fighting 'the man', so Juleka probably wasn't worried whatsoever about getting into trouble at home) and even had the audacity to let her lips twitch in amusement as she walked past Adrien and Marinette to her seat.

"Adrien, Marinette," Ms Bustier said apologetically, "I'm afraid you'll simply have to sit together for the meantime. I'm sure if you pop home during lunch you'll be able to find something to get those handcuffs off."

"Yes Miss," Adrien said obediently.

Marinette muttered something similar but inwardly she was screaming in frustration and humiliation. _She can't spend all day handcuffed to Adrien!_ She just simply cannot! She was going to slip up! She was going to do something _stupid!_ She was going to die judging of a heart attack any second judging by how fast her heart raced as Adrien's hand accidentally brushed against hers while they moved to sit down at Adrien's desk.

(Nino, the smug git, grinned as he took Marinette's seat beside Alya. Marinette had no doubt his only motive to help Alya and the others handcuff Marinette was so he could steal her chair in class. _Urgh!_ ).

It was then when Marinette's torture well and truly began.

She couldn't focus, not for a single second, on her lessons because all she could feel and smell and hear was Adrien Agreste. His warm, strong, thigh was pressed against hers and the heat of him seeped through their jeans and it was enough to make Marinette flush all over thinking about how so very close they were now. She also felt surrounded by his scent, the nice sharp cologne mingled with an oddly nice cheese scent that may or may not make her drool a little. She was so keenly aware of every breath he took and how it hitched ever so slightly when their hands accidentally brushed against one another for the umpteenth time.

It was inevitable.

She was going to die from blushing so hard that her head actually exploded and then she will always be remembered as Adrien Agreste's most traumatic experience in his life that he'll talk about in interviews and lectures on why one shouldn't be handcuffed in school...

And then it got worse.

And she means, really, really, really _mortifyingly_ , worse.

Because during break time as they got up from their seats she felt a familiar pressure that told her that she was desperate to go to the toilet. Either she went with _**ADRIEN FREAKING AGRESTE**_ WATCHING HER or she could wet herself.

Neither was an appealing option.

"Hey," Adrien said softly when he noticed her horrified expression, "It's going to be okay, Marinette, we'll get rid off these eventually. I'm sure Nathalie will know what to do, so we'll go to mine during lunch, and within the hour these will be gone."

He meant to be reassuring and comforting, and in any other situation it would have been most welcome, but Marinette couldn't hold on till lunch time. She was desperate, so very, very, very _desperate_ , and she was going to die when she told Adrien.

"It's not that!" She whispered frantically. " _Ineedtogotothebathroom_!"

"Huh?"

Marinette gritted her teeth and took a deep breath as she tried to will her blush to go away (it didn't and she was pretty sure she now resembled a tomato at this point). "I-I-I said," she stammered, "th-th-that I-I-I need to go to th-th-the bath-th-th..."

Adrien's eyes widened in realisation and he looked equally mortified as Marinette felt. "Oh!" he said. "OH!" he said again louder. "Yeah, I see, erm...couldn't you hold it in?"

Marinette shook her head rapidly.

"Okay," Adrien nodded, "okay," he repeated, "we'll figure something out."

Figure something out turned out they went to the girls bathroom anyway and squeezed into a cubicle together. Marinette felt she could die right there on the spot when she and Adrien ended up pressed up against one another as Adrien tried to turn his back to her and guard the door. She then had to awkwardly shimmy her jeans and knickers down while anxiously watching Adrien's back to make sure he didn't turn round.

She wished she could _gnaw off her own hand_ and immediately throw herself in the Seine river to escape this mortifying experience.

He might not have looked back or flinched or anything but there was no doubt that Adrien could hear her pee. _He would have to be deaf to not to!_ Oh God Marinette was never going to be able to be in the _same room_ with Adrien again, let alone look at him in the eye and utter a single word. She may as well just never turn up to school ever again when she's finally free from these damn, stupid, handcuffs!

She wasn't just going to murder her friends, she was going to _throttle_ them for putting her through this.

After all the cringe-y, dirty, gritty stuff that Marinette didn't want to think about (like wiping herself one-handed), Marinette instantly discovered that it was much harder to put her clothes back on one-handed than it was to take them off. She wriggled and grunted (much to her humiliation, she was pretty sure her _thighs_ were blushing at this point!) as she tried to force her knickers and jeans back up her legs.

Adrien shifted uncomfortably and began to turn ever so slightly. "Marinette," he said worriedly, "do you need any he-"

"DON'T LOOK!" she screeched.

Adrien quickly whipped his head back to face the door. "I'm sorry" he cried out. "I'm not looking, _I'm not looking_!" he added hastily.

Marinette said nothing as she continued to battle with her jeans. With such embarrassing eventuality she was finally able to get them over her hips and zipped back into place. Unfortunately she encountered a new obstacle in the form of her jeans' button.

Marinette closed her eyes and inhaled deeply.

"Okay," she said quietly, "I need some help to do up my jeans' button."

Adrien – _Thank God!_ \- said nothing as he carefully turned round to not wrench her arm, and quietly and quickly, did up her button without prolonging the painful experience. Marinette tried to not think about how hot his fingers felt when they accidentally brushed against her stomach as he fiddled with the button or even look at him while he gazed down at her with such intensity that it made her stomach somersault. Marinette had to close her eyes once more.

"Done," he said calmly.

By the time Marinette opened her eyes Adrien had stepped as far as he could to give her some space. She was simultaneously disappointed and relieved at this and managed to attempt some sort of smile (though it probably came out as a grimace) of gratitude.

"Thanks," she mumbled.

"No problem," Adrien beamed.

It was such a beautiful, radiant, smile and Marinette hated every second she spoiled such a beautiful moment by having to turn back and flush the toilet.

 _Urgh!_

Please!

Someone, anyone, just kill her now.

They stumbled out of the cubicle together (and tried valiantly to ignore the outright staring of two girls who had been gossiping by the sinks) and washed and dried their hands in unison before – _finally!_ \- the horrific experience was over for once and for all.

"Oh thank God that's over!" Marinette exclaimed as she breathed in the fresh ( _ha!_ ) air of the school corridor. "I'm giving up water for the rest of the day so we don't ever have to relive that experience again."

"Erm, yeah," Adrien smiled sheepishly, "but just so you know I haven't been to the toilet yet..."

Marinette stiffened as she felt all her blood leave her face. "No," she shook her head, "no, no, no, no, no, no!" she chanted furiously. "I _cannot!_ I simply cannot go through this again! In fact it would be _worse_ with you! You know boys pee differently from girls, _right_?" Adrien's eyes shimmered in amusement as he opened his mouth but Marinette cut him off instantly. "You pee standing up!" she announced. "And you use _both of your hands!_ Which means _this_ " she waved their handcuffed hands up in the air, "will accidentally be touching your...your...your _thingie_! I don't want to accidentally touch your _thingie_! Please don't make me touch your _thingie_!"

"Marinette!" Adrien choked on his laughter. "I'm not going to make you touch my...what was it? Oh yeah, _thingie._ I was just teasing you."

"Oh," Marinette mumbled.

Then it hit her exactly what she had said to Adrien, word to word, without a single stutter or mix-up to blame. Her eyes widened in horror as her cheeks burned hot and fast with the sickly humiliation.

"Oh no!" She moaned.

She just wanted to curl up on the floor and die.

 _May Tiki avenge her!_

(Though knowing Marinette's luck so far, Tiki has already gathered her cookies and abandoned Marinette out of sheer shame. Marinette won't see her until she comes to pick up the earrings to give to a much better, less embarrassing, Ladybug.)

"Come on," Adrien nudged her with a grin, "Let's get back to class before we end up in detention alongside Alix, Alya, Rose, Mylene, and Juleka."

The next two lessons were a complete blur to Marinette as she constantly relived that horrific moment over and over and _over_ again. If she thought she could get away with it without anyone staring she would have bashed her head repeatedly against the desk in hopes of knocking the memory out of her brain.

Gnawing her hand off was definitely beginning to look like the better alternative than continuing this torture!

When the lunch bell rang, Marinette allowed Adrien to lead her out of the school. His gigantic, intimidating, bodyguard/driver was already looming on the streets waiting for Adrien. When he caught sight of Adrien and Marinette, an eyebrow flew up.

"This is Marinette," Adrien said calmly, "she's joining me for lunch today because...well, there was an incident," he raised their handcuffed hands for his bodyguard, "I was hoping Nathalie could resolve it."

Adrien's bodyguard grunted wordlessly before he opened the door for them.

It turned out that being handcuffed together meant they couldn't sit in separate seats and use seatbelts. At least not without getting tangled up and in the end they sat right next to one another without their seat belts. Which Marinette was secretly overjoyed (but also simultaneously fearful and embarrassed by) as every time Adrien's bodyguard jerked round a turning she and Adrien collided against one another as they slid in that direction.

She's never had so much body contact with Adrien before and she might have actually enjoyed it if it wasn't for the fact she caught Adrien's bodyguard's eyes which glimmered with mischief as his shoulders shook from restraint.

It took her a couple seconds to realise that Adrien's bodyguard was _laughing_ at them!

 _Urgh!_

When they arrived at Adrien's home, Marinette was instantly reminded how intimidating and cold the mansion actually was. It was all too big, too grand, and too white in the foyer. Marinette felt incredibly overwhelmed as the equally intimidating and cold assistant of Gabriel Agreste walked towards them.

"Adrien," Nathalie said curtly, "what is this?"

Marinette tried to not feel offended that she had just been referred to as an _object_. She didn't succeed very well as she felt the beginnings of a glare tug at her face.

"Marinette and I got...well...there was an incident," Adrien said helplessly as he held out their handcuffed hands for Nathalie to examine, "I was hoping you could help unlock it or something?" he added hopefully.

Nathalie looked unimpressed. "Adrien, I am your father's assistant not a locksmith I wouldn't know where to begin," she said flatly, "exactly how did this... _incident_ occur again?"

She stared at Marinette in suspicion and Marinette couldn't help but cringe away under such scrutiny. Clearly Nathalie thought Marinette had done this herself in hopes of getting closer to Adrien, and having done some pretty ludicrous, arguably crosses the line, stuff in the past to do exactly that, Marinette couldn't help but flush guiltily.

"Some of our friends did it as a joke," Adrien said firmly as he stepped between Marinette and Nathalie protectively, "and they lost the only key."

"Very well then," Nathalie said, "I'll cancel your afternoon appointments so you have time to get yourself unchained from Ms Dupain-Cheng, and I shall inform the chef that there is a second person here for lunch. Show your guest to the dinning room, Adrien."

She then stormed off without a second glance back at them. Marinette felt suffocated by the silence and the oppressing gloomy atmosphere that seemed to linger in the mansion. Adrien tried to smile at her but it felt false and weak as he politely led her to the dinning room.

The dinning room was just as bad as the foyer.

It was gigantic, cold, and empty, and Marinette could not shake off the image of a poor, lonely, isolated boy sitting alone in such a room as he stared at his equally empty plate. She couldn't fathom the loneliness Adrien must feel day in and day out. That sort of loneliness would _kill_ her.

Her heart _ached_ for Adrien.

"Is this what it's like for you every meal time?" she murmured softly.

"Yeah," Adrien mumbled miserably, "pretty much."

Without thinking about she slipped her fingers through his own and gave his handcuffed hand a comforting squeeze. Adrien jumped looking surprised by he instantly melted into a warmer, more real, smile as he squeezed her own hand back.

Lunch was as underwhelming as the dinning room had been overwhelming. It might have been a nutritious meal but it was small, unappealing, and contained a lot of limp lettuce with no dressing on. It was no wonder that Adrien always looked on the verge of drooling whenever he was in the bakery. He had been denied decent, heart-warming, food for most of his life!

"Hey," Marinette piped up with a smile, "for dinner, let's go to mine. Mum's trying a new recipe tonight and she always cooks too much food for just three people, and Dad might be able to break us out of these handcuffs."

Adrien smiled radiantly at that. "I would like that," he said shyly, "thank you Marinette."

It was then when Marinette realised that she's been able to _talk_ to Adrien properly without a single stammer or embarrassing mix up. Even though she had just been through some of the most humiliating moments of her life this morning it had all been worth it to reach this comfortable, pleasant, point in her relationship with Adrien.

So maybe she won't kill Alya, Alix, Mylene, Rose, Juleka, and Nino for the handcuff thing after all.

MLBMLBMLBMLBMLBMLBMLBMLB

Adrien was kind of hoping that a meteor would strike him down where he stood right there and then when Alix had slipped the handcuffs onto his and Marinette's wrist.

The humiliation and embarrassment that he endured from that moment on had been suffocating and it was a miracle he hadn't literally _died on the spot_ during the bathroom incident. He had done his very best to be a supportive and good friend to Marinette as she had been to him in the past and managed to not let his inward screaming escape when she needed help to do her jeans up.

The thing about his _thingie_ though almost killed him.

He understood where Marinette was coming from about it even if he did have to bite down hard on his tongue to stop himself from laughing too much in her face about it. When a girl first touches his, ahem, _thingie_ , he would want it to be during a romantic and intimate moment with his girlfriend and not because he really needed help to pee because he was chained to a girl.

Despite all of this mortifying experiences that could ruin any shred of friendship with Marinette for the rest of their days, it wasn't even the worst thing about being handcuffed to Marinette.

He had been avoiding Marinette for a _reason._

He loved her.

He adored her so much that it hurts and it hurts even more to think that one day he would cause her heartache. No matter how strong and consuming his feelings were for Marinette they were equally matched by his feelings for Ladybug, and he couldn't be sure _who_ would win if he could even choose between them.

Adrien thought if he avoided Marinette until he dealt with his feelings he could have prevented losing a precious friendship and Alix, Alya, Mylene, Rose, Juleka, and Nino all stomped over these plans by putting the handcuffs on them.

Because he couldn't escape her now.

And all Adrien could think now was how pretty and adorable and clever and kind and sweet and _wonderful_ Marinette was. She stole his breath away and filled him up with a warm, fuzzy, feeling simultaneously.

It was a bittersweet hell.

After lunch, which wasn't a lonely and desolate experience as it usually was with a sweet smiling Marinette by her side, they made their way back to school and Adrien, once again, found it difficult to pay attention to class with Marinette fidgeting by his side. What was so important about scientific equations when the warmth of Marinette's leg would seep through his jeans or he could smell her sweet perfume or accidentally brush against the soft skin of her thumb every so often?

It was so overwhelmingly distracting.

And then the Chem Lab down the corridor exploded.

"AKUMA!"

Adrien leaped out of his seat ready to race off into battle only to immediately stumble backwards as the weight of Marinette held him back.

Oh.

 _Shit_.

He was still handcuffed to Marinette.

Which mean he couldn't transform without revealing his secret which would only lead to Ladybug murdering him for revealing his secret and endangering a civilian by dragging them into battle.

 _Double shit_.

He didn't have time to contemplate this properly though. The usual garish and clownish Akuma burst into the classroom and he barely had time to push Marinette down onto the floor to avoid a power blast. They rolled on the ground and Marinette ended up crushed on top of Adrien with their faces mere centimetres apart.

They both blushed deeply at that.

Marinette hastily scrambled off of Adrien and offered a hand to help him up. He didn't even get a chance to thank her when the Akuma threw another blast at them and they instantly had to dodge before they got incinerated or something.

Adrien wasn't exactly sure how they did it but with their handcuffed hands tightly entwined with one another they had been able to manoeuvre round the Akuma and escape into the corridor. Adrien pushed Marinette ahead of him so he could shield her back from any potential Akuma attacks.

He had to get her somewhere safe.

He had to figure out how to get these damn handcuffs off so he could help Ladybug stop the Akuma.

He had to do all of this without accidentally revealing his identity.

He was so _screwed_.

The Akuma's enraged scream could be heard not far behind them and Adrien hastily herded Marinette into an abandoned classroom. The Akuma was _too close_ and while he had no doubt his Lady would swoop in to rescue them, he couldn't trust she would get there in time to keep _Marinette_ intact.

He couldn't live with himself if Marinette is harmed because he failed as Chat Noir.

He had no choice.

Marinette came first.

Ladybug could lecture him for all eternity if she wanted to as long as Marinette was alive, and well, and _safe._

"You can't tell anyone!" he blurted out.

"Please don't tell anyone!" Marinette gasped simultaneously.

"Plagg..."

"Tiki..."

"... _Transform Me!_ "


	10. Chapter 9: Mission Accomplished!

**Mission Accomplished!**

Chat Noir and Ladybug goggled at one another.

He couldn't take his eyes off of her face. Her big blue eyes were made bigger than ever as they widened with surprise and her mouth dropped open into a perfect little 'O' shape. Her cheeks were a scarlet red that merged with her matching mask and he had no doubt that his expression was just as shocked and embarrassed as hers was.

And then his heart leaped for joy.

Ladybug and Marinette were one and the same.

Ladybug and Marinette were one and the same.

 _Ladybug and Marinette were one and the same!_

They were _the same_.

His brave, strong, and impressive partner and his sweetest, kindest, and amazing friend were one and the same.

 _Of course,_ they were the same!

How could he have _not_ realised this? How could he have been so _blind_? How could he be so _**stupid?!**_

They had the same big blue eyes, the same midnight dark locks scooped into two perfect pigtails, the luminous skin dotted with the exact same adorable freckles, and the same lovely, sweet, smile that enchanted him at the get go. They had the same strength and determination for justice, the same kindness and compassion for all, the same stubbornness and fiery temper, the same...they were just _the same_.

The two loves of his life were not different girls he had to choose from but one and the same girl he can devote himself to entirely.

This was undoubtedly the happiest day of his life.

The slow, happy, smile that steadily spread across his face rapidly turned into a wide, wild, grin of ecstasy.

"You're _you_ ," he said reverently.

"You...I...ah...you... _guh_!"

He threw his head back and laughed, utterly delighted. This was the adorableness of Marinette that he loved so much. And by God, he _loved_ her. _And,_ he remembered with a wider grin, _she loves me too! Alya said so!_

He tugged on her arm so she staggered towards him and hugged her tightly as he breathed in her sweet, flowery, shampoo and he nuzzled her silky hair and sighed blissfully. She hugged him back tightly and it felt wonderful to finally have her in his arms like this.

 **BOOM!**

And then instantly he remembered that there was an Akuma still roaming the corridors of the school.

The pair of them pulled apart quickly and shared a horrified wide-eyed look. " _The Akuma_!" they exclaimed in unison.

They immediately leaped away to jump into their battle-ready positions when they were suddenly yanked back towards one another. They collided against each other clumsily as the handcuffs rattled loudly between their wrists. They both groaned at the reminder.

"The _handcuffs_!" Ladybug moaned irritably. "What the hell was Alya thinking?!"

"Never fear, My Lady," Chat smirked, "I can _hand_ le this."

She rolled her eyes at that but willing held up their conjoined wrists with such trust it filled him up with a warm, fuzzy, happy feeling.

" _Cataclysm_!"

The handcuffs turned to dust and their hands were finally free from restraint. Ladybug instantly clutched her hand to her chest as she rubbed soothing circles into her wrist. He tried to not be offended by the look of pure, unadulterated, relief on her face (after all he was really looking forwards to going to the bathroom _alone_ after all of this) as he flexed his own free hand and revelled in having free movement again.

"Right!" Ladybug said firmly as she took command as per usual. "I'll go and keep the Akuma distracted while you recharge, and then we'll purify this thing together."

"And then after that?" He couldn't help but ask hopefully.

Ladybug flushed at that. "We'll talk later," she said hastily before she rushed out of the classroom door and into battle.

 _ **YES!**_

Chat pumped a victorious fist into the air as he dropped his transformation cheerfully. All of his anxiety and dread about possibly breaking someone's heart had melted away and there was a light, joyful, feeling fluttered away in his stomach at the thought of finally making some sort of progress with the girl of his dreams.

Plagg hovered before him with uncharacteristic patience. His deep emerald eyes glimmered with a smug knowing look. "Happy, Kid?" Plagg asked.

"Immensely," Adrien grinned.

" _Good!_ " Plagg purred out in satisfaction. "Now gimme my cheese!"

Adrien laughed again as he happily handed Plagg a slice of cheese without argument. He was so over the moon with happiness – _He loved Marinette and Ladybug, who were both one and the same, and she was in love with him and his Chat Noir side, and they were going to talk about this_ – that he wasn't bothered by Plagg's rude, greedy, ways.

MLBMLBMLBMLBMLBMLBMLBMLBMLB

As usual Alya was in the midst of all the danger.

It was, after all, her duty as the foremost journalist on all things Ladybug to capture the Akuma attack in all of it's gory detail on live stream so that Ladybug and Chat Noir could be informed of the danger and come to the rest of her classmates' rescue. Unfortunate it meant that Alya had almost been knocked out by heavy objects (like pieces of the school locker) and had a power blast thrown at her one time too many. Alya was able to dodged and duck with great ease and continue to film (and run a commentary) for all of her viewers right up to when Ladybug suddenly wrapped her yo-yo round Alya's waist and hauled her out of the Akuma's firing range.

" _Alya_!" Ladybug hissed furiously. "We've discussed this! You can't keep endangering yourself like this."

"But Ladybug it is my duty as a journalist to report this!" Alya protested. "How else would you have known there was an Akuma Attack?!"

Ladybug growled but didn't reply as she was too busy using her yo-yo as a shield against the Akuma's power attacks. Alya got a perfect view of the whole battle as Ladybug managed to get close to the Akuma to start hitting them back with her yo-yo and when it looked like Ladybug might be in danger herself, Chat Noir chose that moment to sweep in and deflect attacks with his baton. It took another clever Lucky Charm and well placed Cataclysm for the Akuma to be defeated and Alya was proud to say she had it all on camera.

Well...most of it, unfortunately in order to keep her life intact she had to duck behind debris and missed bits and pieces here and there but it's more than the real news channels were ever going to get and she can be more than satisfied with that.

Because she got the juiciest, best, clip of them all!

Ladybug held up her fist for the traditional fist bump when Chat Noir uncurled her fingers to slide his between hers and suddenly tugged her forward. She stumbled into him as her cheeks flushed bright pink and her eyes glazed over in the same way Marinette's always did when she gazed upon Adrien. It was the most love struck look Alya had ever seen on the superhero's face.

Chat caressed Ladybug's cheek softly with his other hand as his eyes bore into Ladybug's, asking a silent question. He must have seen an answer somewhere because he leaned in and kissed her lingeringly. Ladybug tilted her head and deepened the kiss and Alya had no choice but to keep filming as shocked but ecstatic grin spread across her face.

She shuffled closer to zoom in on all the good lip-locking when Chat Noir and Ladybug pulled apart to catch their breath. Chat rested his forehead against Ladybug's as they panted in unison both equally flushed.

Alya inwardly squirmed with excitement that at least one of her ships were finally sailing!

"...ette, I love you," Chat Noir murmured.

"I love you too, Kitty," Ladybug replied softly.

" **YES!** " Alya screamed excitedly. "LADYNOIR IS FINALLY REAL! YOU SAW IT HERE FIRST ON THE LADYBLOG, FOLKS!"

Ladybug and Chat Noir's eyes bugged out of their sockets as they immediately jumped away from one another as if they had been electrocuted. They both blushed a deep, fiery, red as they spluttered incoherently.

"A-A-A- _Alya_!" Ladybug half shrieked. "Haven't you heard the concept of personal space and privacy?!"

"But Ladybug," Alya said innocently as possible, "you're a public person involved in the safety and the well being of this city. It is my duty to ensure that the people know exactly who is defending them. Now, do you think your new relationship status with Chat Noir would effect your efficiency in battle?"

Ladybug spluttered indignantly at that as Chat squeezed their still entangled hands comfortingly and shot her a sheepish grin.

"My Lady is most professional when lives are at stake," he said smoothly, "It will take more than this breathless beauty such as me to distract her from the safety of Paris."

"Uh-uh," Alya said flatly, "and tell me," she narrowed her eyes in suspicion at Chat Noir's all too innocent face. She didn't trust him to not sneak off and plant some kisses on Marinette after this and she was not letting her Girl get heartbroken over the likes of this Tom Cat. "Is your relationship with Ladybug _exclusive_?"

 _Tell me that you have taken my advice and left Marinette alone to stick to Ladybug_ , was what she meant.

"The girl by my side is the only girl for me," Chat said firmly as he turned to gaze deeply into Ladybug's eyes, "whether or not she is wearing the mask."

Ladybug flushed at that as the smallest but most dazzling smile appeared on her face. "It's only you for me too," she mumbled almost timidly, "I'll take you no matter what. Puns and all."

Chat smiled sweetly as he leaned in closer to Ladybug. Alya also leaned in closely, hoping to capture a second Ladynoir kiss for her blog, when suddenly there was a loud beeping noise and both Ladybug and Chat Noir leaped away again.

"That's our cue!" Ladybug exclaimed. "Gotta go!"

"Until the next time," Chat Noir bowed.

And then, instead of dashing off in opposite directions like they usually did, Alya watched fascinated as they grabbed hold of each other's hands and ran away together in the exact same direction. There was no doubt about it that their relationship status has certainly changed.

"You heard it hear first, folks!" Alya grinned into her camera. "Ladybug and Chat Noir are now a _couple_! This is Alya Cesaire bringing you super news straight from the cat's mouth."

She signed off with a wink and turned the camera off before she pumped a victorious fist into the air.

 _Ladybug and Chat Noir were a couple!_

That was now one less obstacle for Adrien and Marinette to get together! She could show her video to Marinette to ensure her friend was aware of Chat Noir's new non-bachelor status. It would hurt Marinette a little, and Alya was sorry for that, but as she would still be chained to Adrien, there is no doubt that Adrien would step up to comfort her like the prince charming he is. Soon enough Adrien and Marinette would fall into each other's arms and Golden Lotus will also be sailing!

Today was totally Alya's day!

MLBMLBMLBMLBMLBMLBMLBMLBMLB

The disappointing thing about Akuma attacks was that Ladybug always fixed everything afterwards.

This meant, annoyingly, that even though the school was totally destroyed twenty minutes ago, it was now miraculously fixed again and classes could continue without any trouble. Alix sighed at the loss of a possible half day because Ladybug did her job far too well to Alix's liking.

 _Would it kill Ladybug to leave the school half-destroyed so they could have a couple weeks off?!_

That wasn't too much to ask for, surely?

Alix, Alya, Mylene, Rose and Juleka were the only ones in class as they waited for everyone to make a return. Nino and Ivan had been spotted in the school entrance listening to some music together, Nathaniel was probably hiding in the art room, Kim and Max had probably snuck off somewhere to play video games while the Akuma attack had happened, and Chloe and Sabrina probably ran off to some high-tech top-notch safe room in the hotel because heaven forbid Chloe broke a nail in the middle of an Akuma attack.

And the teacher was probably in the staff room or something, who knows?

Who cares?

They were in the middle of watching Ladybug and Chat Noir kiss when Adrien and Marinette stumbled in. There was something a little off about them that Alix couldn't quite put her finger on. Both of their hairs looked messed up as if someone had been running their fingers through them, and they both looked very flushed and flustered, and was it just Alix but did their lips look kinda swollen?

They both had great big stupid grins on their faces too which was unexpected because Alix thought they would be switching between sulking and dying of embarrassment for the rest of the day until they finally unlocked the handcuffs.

( _Of course,_ they had a spare key. It was firmly hidden under Alya's mattress at home.)

It was Alya, of course, who immediately put her finger on what was wrong with the picture before them. " _You're not handcuffed any more_!" she huffed. "How did you get out of them?!"

"Oh," Adrien shrugged, "Chat Noir used Cataclysm on them to free us."

" _Did he now_?" Alya narrowed her eyes at that. "Hey Marinette!" she added brightly. "Have you heard that Ladybug and Chat Noir are now an item?"

Alix snorted at that. "Subtle Alya," she muttered as she rolled her eyes, " _real_ subtle."

Alya's cheeks had a red tinge to them but otherwise Alya ignored her completely as she waved her phone excitedly before Marinette's nose. " _See!_ " she said smugly. "I was the first one to get confirmation."

"That's nice Alya," Marinette said cheerfully.

Alix and the others swapped dubious glances. That was way too accepting for a girl who had all but turned into a puddle of goo in Chat Noir's arms last month when she was tangled up in probably the most romantic pose Alix had ever seen in her short life (outside of romantic movies and novels that is). _There had to be something else going on that they were missing!_

It was Rose who noticed exactly what it is.

"You're still holding hands!" Rose cried out as she pointed at Adrien and Marinette's entwined fingers. "You're no longer handcuffed but _you're still holding hands_!"

Adrien and Marinette instantly turned bright pink at that.

"Well, ah, you see," Adrien rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, "we got to realise a couple things about each other handcuffed and, well..."

"... _we'reacouplenow_!" Marinette blurted out.

There was a long lingering silence as they all stood there and let exactly what Marinette had said sink in and then -

" _ **AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!**_ "

Adrien and Marinette flinched back with pained expressions as all of them – yes Alix included! - screamed in utter delight that they had finally – _finally!_ \- succeeded in reaching their goal of Golden Lotus. Alix didn't even hesitate as she took Alya's hand on one side and Mylene's on the other as they all began to jump up and down excitedly in a circle together.

"WE DID IT! WE DID IT! WE DID IT! WE DID IT! WE DID IT!" they chanted giddily together. "WE DID IT! WE DID IT! WE DID IT! WE DID IT! WE DID IT! WE DID IT! WE DID IT!"

Adrien threw his head back and laughed for some reason while Marinette looked utterly flabbergasted at their reaction. She didn't have time to compose herself though as Alya ripped her hands away to fling herself at Marinette. Alix followed without hesitation and ended up crushed between Marinette's elbow, Alya's shoulder, and all of Mylene who collided into her back. She could just make out Rose and Juleka hugging Adrien from the other side.

"I'm so happy for you!"

"This is amazing!"

"It's brilliant!"

"Oh congratulations!"

" _Finally_!" Alix exclaimed. "Just finally! It's about time you two hooked up!"

"ALIX!"

"What?" Alix asked untroubled by her friends' aghast expressions. "It's the _truth!_ We all thought this would end up being our _grandchildren's_ mission these two were so oblivious!" Adrien and Marinette flushed with matching blushes. Urgh, they were so going to be one of those couples that did everything together and wear matching jumpers at Christmas, _weren't they_? "After all the trouble with Chloe, the detentions, the grounding, the Akumas, and all the other little fuck ups, they're finally together and all we had to do was sell – _shit_!" Alix interrupted herself as the memory of Plagg smacked her in the face. "Does this mean I definitely have to call my kid _Wensleydale_ now?!"

" _Huh?_!" Marinette squeaked.

"Wensleydale?" Adrien repeated with a frown. "Why would you need to name your child after a chee-"

"YES!" Plagg bellowed, drowning out Adrien's question. "And you're overdue for your weekly cheese sacrifice too!" He added crossly. "Whatever happened to devotion and piety towards your God? A few centuries ago it would be _unthinkable_ to let your lord and master starve to death from lack of cheese sacrifices especially after _I had just answered all of your prayers_. Where's the gratitude and the worshipping I am owed? Honestly you just can't get the right kind of disciples for a cult these days."

Everyone stiffened in shock and their eyes widened mortification as Plagg's loud, demanding, voice wafted out clearly from beneath Adrien Agreste's shirt...


	11. Epilogue: No More Operations!

**Author's Note: Thank you all so much for the reviews, favourites, and follows throughout this fic. I hope you all enjoy this final chapter.**

It took over a month before they finally had that long promised girly sleepover with Kagami.

A lot had happened in that month.

Starting with the moment Plagg's voice could be heard from beneath Adrien's shirt. No one had time (or the will) to react at such a shocking revelation that the God of Destruction and Misfortune apparently lived with Adrien Agreste when a red and black bug-like creature suddenly zoomed out of Marinette's handbag and yanked Plagg out from under Adrien's shirt and actually _throttled the living daylights_ out of him.

" _What have we told you about forming a cult, Plagg?_!" the creature hissed. "There was a _reason_ why we banned such a thing after your followers almost burned down ALL OF ROME!"

" _Guh_!" Plagg choked.

"Oh my God, Oh my God, Oh my God, Oh my God, Oh my God, Oh my God!" Alya babbled as she pointed frantically between Adrien and Marinette. "You're _Ladybug_ and _Chat Noir_! Holy shit that explains so much! _Oh my God!_ We threatened _Adrien_ in a dark and shady alleyway to stay away from Marinette so _Adrien_ could date her!"

"YOU DID **WHAT**?!" Marinette shrieked.

There was no chance of an immediate explanation as the classroom door started to open and Plagg and the strange red creature instantaneously zipped back into their hiding places and everyone hastily tried to compose themselves and focus on their afternoon lessons.

(For the life of her, Alix could not remember what happened in those lessons but then again that wasn't exactly any different from any other day in school.)

It took two days to corner Adrien and Marinette for a proper explanation which they only gave because someone called Master Fu said it was best to reign in Plagg's latest cult. Alix wasn't sure if it was totally awesome that some mystical guy was frightened of the chaos and destruction was now apparently capable of or incredibly insulted that he thought she was stupid enough to not question Plagg's demands.

(Which was only for more cheese and the occasionally belly rub when he ate too much of it by the way).

Alix didn't have much time to contemplate this as not only did she have to endure a week's detention for the handcuff incident but she was grounded _once again_ and forced to help archive all the paper in the museum for felt like an eternity for getting so many detentions. When she was finally free of that she then found that she – along with Alya, Rose, Juleka, and Mylene – had become this Master Fu's _errand girl_.

"It had been discovered long ago by the temple that Plagg's followers are best kept busy or idle hands will lead to unnecessary destruction," Master Fu said wisely when they all finally got to meet him, "that's why I am assigning you all temple duty to prevent any sort of chaos that might catch Hawk Moth's attention."

Alix would totally believe this if it wasn't for the fact she could have sworn she saw the old man laugh into his cup of tea after he sent her to get his weekly prescriptions.

She was pretty sure they were all being used but if it meant that Tiki (the name of Marinette's odd little God thing) would relax about the fact that Adrien and Marinette's identities have been blown because they were all properly sworn in as temple staff or whatever, then Alix was all for it.

Plagg was annoying in the sense he was the most gluttonous creature Alix had ever met and talked only about cheese.

Tiki was annoying because she never stopped _fucking lecturing_ them about the importance of keeping everything a secret while also trying to parent them constantly.

She had not been impressed when Alix coolly pointed out that she already had a Mum - _thank you very much!_ \- and didn't need another.

It also didn't help that they totally told Kagami but Alix swears Kagami is the only one and she swore she would never tell Wayhem. Besides it all worked out, Kagami was like Master Fu's _favourite_ after Marinette, they like to drink tea together and contemplate the universe or whatever.

Alix was pretty sure Kagami was going to get her hands on a Miraculous before she did which was _totally unfair!_

This, of course, totally led to the next unnecessarily over the top dramatic moment of Marinette and Kagami actually having a conversation. They had all held their breaths when the two girls met properly on the rare outing for ice cream as a group since Marinette expressed...well, okay, it wasn't dislike because Alix can literally count on one hand how many people Marinette actually disliked (two and that was _Chloe_ and _Hawk Moth_ , so who can blame her?) but it wasn't exactly a positive reaction.

Thankfully though after a tense handshake and some muttered apologies, Kagami and Marinette instantly warmed up to one another and got on like a house on fire. Now every time Adrien approached the pair of them they would exchanged glances and burst into giggles which quickly turned into full out, belly busting, laughter at the blond boy's expense.

Poor Adrien would stand there utterly clueless to what was so funny.

(So nothing new there.)

On top of this some actual, real life, drama shit hit the fan when Marinette fully comprehended that Adrien was _**Chat Noir.**_ Apparently when Adrien ditched them all on that ice cream date it wasn't because his father forbade him to go out but because he had set up a romantic evening on the rooftops for Ladybug.

Even though he already had plans with his friends and Ladybug clearly told him no and she had her own plans with friends.

Mylene was downright terrifying when she found this out. She had calmly stepped up to Adrien and shot him the filthiest look Alix had ever seen (and boy, Chloe had sent them some _real stinkers_ in the last few weeks) as she placed her hands onto her hips. "Nino deserves better," was all she said in the coldest voice that Alix hadn't thought Mylene was capable of before.

Adrien was left absolutely flabbergasted in the dust.

Of course they had been on Marinette's side on the whole thing, she was their best friend and had her dreams crushed and heart dented by the discovering, but on the other hand...

"Look I didn't waste all my time in detention for you to break up with Adrien after _two freaking weeks_ ," Alix said bluntly, "let him grovel but please, for the love of my unborn child called Wensleydale, _take him back_ eventually."

Marinette's insulted gargling noise didn't last long as Adrien well and truly grovelled (to both her and Nino much to Nino's bewilderment) and Marinette, who was never made of stone in the first place, instantly crumbled and hauled the poor boy into a suffocating embrace.

Alix was sure she saw Adrien choke on Marinette's tongue.

(Oh, and by the way, Adrien still hadn't apologised for calling Alix a bully about the whole pushing Marinette into his arms constantly. When she confronted him about it he just stared at her with a bland expression.

"You could have still hurt Marinette," he said flatly, "in fact, you _did hurt Marinette_. Do you remember the _cupboard_?!"

And with that, Alix held onto her burning desire to see Adrien suffer any minor indignation and pain possible. Yes, she is that petty and ridiculous. Deal with it.)

So here they were finally doing a girly sleepover with _all the works_. There was ice cream, cookies, and various other sweet treats scattered across the floor with a stack of chick flicks primed for viewing, and a clutter of beauty supplies such as nail polish and face packs to give Kagami the full experience. Rose was in the middle of braiding Juleka's hair while Alya helped cover Mylene's face in some sort of muck, and Marinette was currently painting flames on Kagami's nails.

Meanwhile Alix was...

"Hey! Hey! Hey!" Plagg waved his paw in Alix's face. "Stop daydreaming, you're supposed to be worshipping me. _Worship me_ ," he drawled out persuasively, " _Worship me_!"

Well, Alix was preoccupied obviously.

"All hail the mighty and great Plagg," Alix rolled her eyes, "please accept this measly offering of cheese that is unworthy of your magnificence."

"Gladly," Plagg gobbled the cheese down quickly, "though your devotion can use a little work. Try to can the sarcasm there can only be one snarky feline in this relationship and it _isn't_ you."

"Oh Plagg, the wise and wonderful!" Rose bowed her head deeply towards Plagg. She was the only one who still took her 'temple duties' seriously and Alix had a terrifying feeling that she truly believed in Plagg as a religion. "Please allow me to scratch behind your ears again."

"Rose," Juleka said softly appalled, " _No_!"

"Rose, _yes!_ " Plagg cheered as he zipped over to Rose's side. "You're totally my favourite."

"Hey!" Marinette cried out offended. "You said _**I**_ was your favourite yesterday!"

"You're my favourite bug," Plagg back-tracked hastily, "you're several shades less obnoxious and annoying than most of Tiki's chosen."

"Hmm..." Marinette hummed clearly unable to decide whether or not she should be insulted. "If you say so."

"I _do!_ " Plagg purred as he leaned into Rose's touch.

"WE NEED A NEW OPERATION!"

Everyone jumped out of their skin at Alya's loud and sudden declaration. Marinette even went as far as letting out a startled squawk as she accidentally jerked her hand down and painted red over Kagami's knuckle. " _Oh my God_!" she gasped horrified. "I'm so sorry."

"It's no problem," Kagami shrugged indifferently, "nothing a bit of polish remover can't solve."

"All right," Alix faced Alya, "rewind a little bit. _Why_ exactly do we need a new operation?"

"It's so _boring_!" Alya complained. "Now we finally succeeded in our mission to get Golden Lotus sailing and my personal mission to find out Ladybug's identity," Marinette rolled her eyes, "I have nothing to focus on and it's driving me _mad._ We need a new operation like _yesterday_!"

"I already have a new operation," Kagami said calmly, "I need to persuade my mother to take Wayhem with us to London in September for the royal wedding. That's five months away and it still might not be enough time."

"Juleka and I have a new operation too!" Rose beamed radiantly as she took Juleka's hand into hers. "And we're very excited about it!"

Everyone waited with baited breath for Rose to expand on that when Juleka blinked bewilderedly. "We do?" she mumbled baffled.

"Yes!" Rose grinned. "Our new art project with Nathaniel, remember?"

"Oh," Juleka muttered, disappointment clear on her face, "yeah, _that_."

Alya shot Alix a very pointed look that screamed ' _SEE! I told you we need to get them together!'_ which Alix ignored completely. They had this discussion repeatedly in the last couple weeks and Alix was utterly adamant that she was not getting involved in the matchmaking business again. Not after all the many, many, _many_ disasters they had endured these last few months. Alix already sold the name of her first born child, the next deity they may have to beg help from will probably demand her poor kid's _soul._

"I also have my own operation to focus on," Alix said loudly, "It's called Operation Kick Kim's Ass!"

Everyone groaned and rolled their eyes at that one.

"When _don't_ you humiliate Kim?" Mylene asked faintly amused. "I am going to focus on Ivan a little more. He's been so good and supportive about this whole thing but I have been neglecting him in favour of Marinette's relationship status."

Marinette flushed bright pink at that.

"Yeah," Alix grinned slyly, "and we all know Marinette's operation in life is to dry hump Adrien on every tourist attraction Paris has to offer."

"ALIX!" Marinette shrieked. Her face flaming scarlet. "IT IS _**NOT**_!"

" _Pfft!_ " Alya snorted. "Tell that to my Ladyblog. Someone posted a picture of you two making out on Notre Dame just two nights ago."

" _Oh my God!_ " Marinette covered her face with her hands. "Adrien said no one could see us!"

"Adrien's an _idiot,_ " Plagg said bluntly.

" _Plagg_!" Tiki snapped disapprovingly.

"Well _he is_!" Plagg whined.

"The point is," Alix said loudly before anyone could start protesting this (she was on Plagg's side all the way on that subject), "we all have our own missions in life and don't need another operation to focus on. Maybe this is a sign that you should focus on something significant in _your life_ for a change."

"Oh yeah!" Alya challenged. "Like _what_?"

Alix didn't get a chance to answer when there was a knock on the bedroom door.

"And that's our cue!" Rose declared.

They instantly snatched up all of their goodies, chick flicks, and beauty supplies as Alya's mouth opened and closed like a fish.

"Wait, _what?_!" Alya cried out. "What about our girly sleepover?! What happened to achieving Kagami's dream?!"

" _We_ ," Alix stressed as she waved a hand at herself and the others, "are going to have a girly sleepover at Marinette's. While _you,_ " she said pointedly, "are going to learn to focus on what's important."

"Oh yeah," Alya placed her hands on her hips challengingly, "and what's that?"

Mylene – ever the helpful assistant – opened the bedroom door to reveal a sheepish Nino wielding a bouquet of slightly bedraggled flowers. "Hey Babe," Nino said shyly, "wanna try a real date again?"

"Oh," Alya blinked. Her cheeks were tinged with a faint pink and the beginnings of a smile tugged at the corners of her lips. " _Oh!_ " she repeated happily. "Yeah, sure. Let's have a real date."

And on that note, Alix and the others slipped out to have their girly sleepover (plus Plagg) in peace. With Alya finally paying attention to Nino and no longer demanding a new operation in life, Alix could finally have some drama-free life to savour and enjoy. The quietness of it all was _magnificent_...

...Until Plagg loudly demands for more cheese that is.


End file.
